Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
Co "A", 353rd Engr Regt
A.P.O. #502, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
July 25, 1943
Dear Aunty Clara, this is the poem that appeared in a June issue of the Post.
T H E H E R O
"What did you do in the war, Daddy? How did you win the war?
Where did you get your uniform that hangs from the closet door?
Mother, she says you served your time: That's certainly no disgrace:
But whenever I ask her what you did, she sniggers and makes a face."
"A trivial cog was I
in the services of supply:
I filled out form 350 in my most meticulous way:
I filled it out and filled it out and filled it out all day;
And when I'd finished filling it out, I filled 350A.
Now beat it."
"Is that the best you did, Daddy? Didn't you see the scrap?
Charlie's father, he sank a sub, and Dorothy's killed a Jap:
Elmer's mother, she joined the Spars, and Tommy's, she was a wave:
What did you do yourself, Daddy, so wonderful and brave?"
"I was an Army clerk;
I typed out all the work.
With a slip of the pen
lost fifty men
who never thereafter were seen again:
I sharpened pencils and dusted desks; I mopped and scrubbed the floor; And you've got the nerve to ask me, what did I do in the war?
Scram!"
"How did you win that ribbon, then, and the chevrons on your coat?
Did you get to Africa, Daddy, Dear or weren't you on the boat?"
"Each stripe I wear
as a legionnaire
I earned by my efforts, fair and square.
While other fellows were driving tanks and sinking enemy ships,
I saved the day in my own sweet way with quartermaster slips:
I got the Colonel - believe it or not - eight gross of paper clips!
Wanna make something of it?"
--- Norman R. Jaffray.
This one is even better than the one I sent you from Camp White. Don't you think so?
/s/ Roman
Roman