Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
Co "A", 353rd Engr Regt
A.P.O. #502, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
July 2, 1943
Dear Aunty Clara:
There is so much to say that I actually do not know what to start off with. For instance, I received your letter from June 21st today. That is the letter in which you mentioned having finally received the card which the government sent out. You also said you saw the movie "Lost Horizon." I'll bet you any amount of money that without even having seen the picture that this Shangri-La place resembles this country more closely than it does the Rogue Valley. In Oregon we had the Agate Desert and the numerous peneplains whereas here the scenery is something hard to explain in that just about everything is part of a hill or a mountain and there is very very little flat space. One sentence censored.
Now comes the sorry confession. First of all, the fellow paid me the five dollars he owed to me. Second of all, I made the thirty dollar money transfer to you for your birthday. Third of all, when I came into my tent this evening there was a miniature crap game going on and I sportingly joined in with one of the loose half dollars in my pocket. The next minute I was out a half dollar. So what says I, I will gamble for bigger stakes at the game I saw going on down the street aways. Aha, I bet just for the sake of betting and I don't even know what I lost that first three dollars on but it was lost. Then I conserved my last two dollars and only lost it a dollar at a time. Therefore, I am sad to state that your Romeo is very unlucky and is now flat broke without a penny in his pocket and a month until payday. Easy come easy go. Really, I didn't lose anything I planned on having since you have received my total pay. Had I sent you twenty-five and then lost five, I would have felt bad about it. But what gripes me is that every time I "try my luck" that is the way it winds up. Remember the carnivals et al? I used to be winning and then I would say now instead of being methodical about this I will just be like the rest of the fellows and actual gamble. Then, just as now, the money would go poof! And then people have the nerve to say that when I play the system I gamble. You know very well that it is all a matter of averages and the professional who figures them in his favor never intends to lose and it is only the sucker who goes up like I went up tonight and loses his shirt. So much for that sordid story of corruption and vice. So help me, I've raised my right hand and have said "Never again." How can I with no money?
By the way, I came back from a special job this afternoon at seven o'clock this evening and just had time to see the best part of the movie "Casablanca." Boy o boy, that was a swell movie and I enjoyed every bit of it. Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains were the only two actors I recognized. Whoever the girl who had the feminine lead was really OK. That is for good looks. How I arrived at the theater area and in what condition is almost a story in itself and I have not the space left on this form to tell you about it. I am writing two sheets this evening and it will be on the second one.
To backtrack a bit to the sordid once again. Don't feel bad about it for me because (1) money itself as money is valueless to me (2) there isn't anything to spend money on out here anyway except (3) the PX and there I only buy candy which makes me sick so (4) I'll be better off by not eating so much candy.
Solong,
/s/ Roman
Roman
Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
Co "A", 353rd Engr Regt
A.P.O. #502, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
July 2, 1943
Dear Aunty Clara: