657 12/6/1945 Jim Erwin to Helen Carlson

Jim Erwin 497th Service Sqdn. 44th Service Group, APO 487, NY Thursday, December 06, 1945

Helen Carlson 151 Fourth Ave. North, Nashville, Tennessee

Dear Helen, I’m sitting in a chair out in the sunshine. Feels good. The nights and mornings are cold. This is the first day I’ve been to work in quite a while. Four of us are working with the British Customs Office. Chinese planes fly out from here and have to be checked. We’re on duty only six hours a day. The Indian Customs men do what little work there is to do. There really isn’t any sense in me coming out here at all. We’re in an office that sits just off of the runway. The Group was supposed to be put in category 4 the 15th of October. At the last minute, that was stopped. Men started leaving by points only. That’s much better anyway. Nobody likes the point system but if anybody is going home that way, everybody else should too. The other day a fellow went home on points that has only been in the army 18 months. He had three kids and got 36 points for them alone. He was still a civilian when we came overseas. That’s what most fellows gripe about. The points are dropping in a hurry now though and looks like they finally have a smooth running system. Next Monday the 55 point men will have left for the post. The 15th men with 54. I have 52 so in two weeks, I expect to be on my way. Guess I can wait that much longer. Nobody gets any mail. We all told everybody to quit a month or so ago. That was a sad mistake. Mother said that Elmer had gotten started and had found a place for you. I do hope that it works out okay. Our band leader left a couple of weeks ago. He turned the band over to me. When he left, we lost a trumpet man and figured that the band was finished. I found another man though. Also got a trombone player and another sax man. We have a better band than ever now. There is a 15-piece stateside band in the area also. There are only two bands left in the valley now. This big band has had all the best jobs. Every week we gradually take a couple from them. We’re playing more than they are now. We make three dollars a night on enlisted men’s dances and five from officers. We play four nights a week so are doing right well. Five of us in the band should be out of here by Christmas. Don’t know if the fellows left can manage or not. They can probably find some fellows to fill in though. Hope so. We have a lot of offers for Christmas and even New Year’s Eve. Those two nights would bring in quite a bit. The meals in the mess hall are wonderful. Ham and eggs for breakfast, fresh meat for all the other meals. Hard to believe after eating so poorly for such a long time. Harold Jennings is from Tennessee and plays the electric guitar in the band. He wants to go to the U of Wash with me. The folks want to take a trip east when I get home. We’ll be going to Tennessee to see you or to take you back and can pick him up then. He is a swell kid. Doesn’t drink or smoke. Mother would like that. Your kids must be getting real big. I’d sure like to see Jimmie again. Haven’t ever seen Mary. Maybe I will before too long. I’ll write again soon and hope to tell you that I’m really on my way this time. With love, Jim