Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
Co "A", 353rd Engr Regt
A.P.O. #502, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
July 13, 1943

Dear Aunty Clara,

Last night we saw "The Powers Girls" at the open air theater. George Murphy, Anne Shirley and Carole Lombard were the leading players. At first it was very good entertainment but then they pulled that old gag about circumstantial evidence breaking up a beautiful romance between Anne Shirley and the fellow. I actually walked out on the picture then and there. It was obvious that they would eventually get together in the end but since I go to moving pictures to enjoy them I decided not to sit thru any heart rending drama which Hollywood decided to cook up to make the plot more interesting. They had shown two shorts just before the picture and they compensated for my not being able to appreciate the whole show. One of the shorts was on golf as played by John Montague. He is the fellow that used to pal around with Bing Crosby and pull all those fancy shots with shovels and rakes. It sure would be swell to be on the old fairways once again.

I meant to write to you right after the show but I didn't have the opportunity. I think that last night was the latest I have stayed awake yet since being on this island although by former standards it wasn't late at all. I finally got to sleep at one o'clock in the morning. Towards eleven o'clock at night I had to get in a report for Lt Hanton and that kept me busy for quite some time.

I received two letters from you today. They were dated July 2 and 3 which is excellent delivery especially when you stop to consider that by coming west this far a day is lost and when you wrote those letters on the 3rd it was really the Fourth of July over here. You mention the fact that now your Romeo is overseas everyone is asking for his address. It seems that just saying a person is on overseas duty lends a certain romantic attachment to his person. Or am I shooting wide of the mark? Of course, you know the setup in regards to any of these people sending packages overseas. I am surprised that there has been such little publicity to the method and that there should be such a general lack of understanding on the part of people back home concerning the postal regulations governing APOs. In general it takes almost a month for a package to be returned to the parties who sent them to an APO without furnishing the necessary request. Still answering your letters, I might say that you can just as well uncross and double uncross your fingers I am alright and nothing dreadful is going to happen to me. In the first place, I don't even see how you can get such ideas into your head (of course, I do know how you get those ideas because we are sentimentalists at heart as we found out long before now). Can you beat this, I was momentarily peeved with you in your letter because you mention the newcomer to the Bernett's home but instead of giving me the details you just say that you suppose my Dad gave them to me. Here again I think I know what happened. He probably came in and told you the news and you feel that he has sort of a priority in revealing it to me. If that isn't the case and neither he nor you mention it again until the receipt of this letter, I guess I am in for a long wait. You ask also about the food. Well, to that I am afraid I will have to say it is a military secret. As a general rule I am a light eater and so far I have never left the mess hall feeling hungry. I do not know how you got the impression that soldiers on this side of the water have ballysours but there just isn't any truth to it. For instance, in our company it is prohibited to get a bald haircut. As for me, I had a haircut the first week or so we got here and have intended getting one soon again but you already know the tragic story of how I ran out of funds right after payday.

So-long,
/s/ Roman
Roman