649 6/29/1945 Jim Erwin to Helen Carlson

Jim Erwin 497th Service Sqdn. 44th Service Group, APO 487, NY Friday, June 29, 1945

Helen Carlson 382 Robertsville Road, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Dear Helen, Have owed you a letter for quite a while so better get started. Our weather is still funny. Rains everyday and is awful hot too. Can always sleep at night though. That’s one good thing. You were certainly lucky to get that ham. Hope you have been able to get more since. Each day, the teletype news has a long article on the meat shortage in the States. Hope something will be done about it. Don’t know where it all goes. We certainly aren’t getting any choice cuts. Will be swell if Elmer can be released from the job there so you can go to the job at Whiting. Mother said that you and Gladys have been thinking of going to Washington for a vacation. Mother would sure like to have you. The trains are awful crowded now though and might be hard to get through. Your nursemaid Nell sounds okay. Have heard about girls in Tennessee but haven’t ever met one. Sometime if you’re taking pictures, get her into one. Does she know how to write? Swell that Jimmie and Mary like her so well. She probably isn’t a fire bug either. I didn’t cancel my insurance. It is very cheap and all but seems senseless to me. This is practically an inactive theatre. Whatever happened to me here, could of happened in civilian life. Probably much safer right here. Didn’t ever have any insurance before coming overseas and being here, didn’t see why I should keep it up. Many of the fellows are converting their policies and intend paying on it after the war. Not me. The insurance we have won’t pay the money back after the war we have paid in. Would be counted though on a conversion. This way, it’s not like putting it into savings like you thought. I heard from Elizabeth a couple of times since she was married. I quit writing to her long ago though and she finally quit. I have stopped writing to Shirlee again too. Has been about 18 months since I’ve seen her. We never did write very often anyway. If she doesn’t get married, can see her after the war. They have temporarily stopped rotation. I have only about half of what is needed for a discharge. Elmer’s brother Bob should have more than enough. I think that by the time we have two years over here, rotation will be back in effect again. That should only be nine or ten months. The war might be over by that time too. I plan to go to Calcutta the end of July for the ping pong tournament and will buy you some Indian rings, bracelets or something. No matter what the cost, you can’t ever tell whether you’re getting gypped or not. I will get you some things though. Our Day Room plans fell through months ago. It has been all fixed over again now and looks beautiful. Lovely bar, silk parachutes for ceiling, modernistic, indirect green wall lights, everything is painted, have a refrigeration unit and are going to get American liquor for awhile. The opening is July 4th. Hope the place isn’t torn apart. This group had a big shake up among the officers. Have a new Colonel – Commanding Officer. He is really all for the G.I.s and everybody likes him. Five staff officers were transferred. Lt. Dariotis, the one I worked for, went to Air Service Command Headquarters. He will be in charge of all Information and Education Departments here in the Valley. He was working on the change himself and wasn’t kicked out. He can have me transferred up there too but am not sure whether I want to or not. He has several good jobs open for me. A Captain has taken his place here in the office. Don’t know very much about him yet. He talks too much and think he is full of bull. He has some crazy ideas. I want to enroll in the U of Wash instead of returning to Wash. State. Will be able to get home on the weekends. First, I’m going to take a trip all over the country though. The folks will probably go too. They are planning on it I know. There is a lovely little girl in Florida that I wouldn’t mind marrying either. Will wait and see. Jack is still in the States and doesn’t expect to leave. If he does leave California, his officer said they would send him to N.Y. for a school that would last six more months. Well, he hasn’t seen all the places I have. We can write just about anything we wish to now. The one stop we made coming across was at Capetown, South Africa. It is a beautiful modern city and would like to see it again sometime. We landed in Bombay, India but didn’t get any pass into the city. Got off the boat and right onto a train. We have been on this field about ten months now. The name is Dinjan. Dibrugarh is the largest town around and is 35 miles southwest. We are about 60 miles Northwest of Ledo. The planes the group works on are C-47 and C-46. They are cargo planes. Converted passenger ships. The C-47 is just like the one you flew from Minneapolis to Seattle in. They are wonderful airplanes and have much praise due to them. They haul cargo over the Formosa “hump” into China. Our group handles much of the air freight and has a wonderful record. Our group is also head and shoulders above all other groups in this area in all departments. Now that we have some officers the men like, our records should look even better. The Red Cross is becoming quite a problem. More colored boys gang in there each day. Very few white boys even go in any more. An M.P. is stationed in the club now every night to make certain of no fights. A few knives have been pulled but nobody has been hurt. We just as soon give them the Red Cross and have an Enlisted Men’s Club. Something is going to have to be done. The P.X. is getting a lot of canned chocolate malt. I drink it all the time. It’s the closest thing we get to milk. Would rather have a case of it than beer. I gave my beer to Clifford this month. He doesn’t drink much either though. With the refrigerator in the day room now, we will probably enjoy a cold beer now and then. I have been playing a kid in chess and ping pong for $1.50 a game. He owed me $25.00. He couldn’t have paid me anyway so I let him get even and quit playing for money. Soft-hearted I guess. He would have expected it if I had lost. Think I told you that I found a Ronson lighter a few months ago. Still works swell. Was able to buy Clifford a new one for his birthday. He was sure surprised and happy to get it. They have some beautiful hand-carved ivory chess sets over here. They cost about $35.00. Before I go home, want to buy a set. Will close again for now and will write again. Won’t wait so long next time. Oh yes, the P.X. got some film in and with some very good friends, have a pretty good stock now. Will be sending you some more pictures. With love, Jim