Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
Co "A", 353rd Engr Regt
A.P.O. #502, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
August 7, 1943

Dear Aunty Clara,

This letter is being written immediately after the one dated August 6, 1943. One more and I will be up to date.

The trip to town was strictly business and since both Mersing and I had to get back to camp as soon as possible, we did not have time to walk around the town. The Finance office of the Army is just like any commercial accounting house. Several soldiers were checking over tapes of figures and it reminded me of the way we used to do that very thing at Rathborne after the end of the period. And just as Roy Miller and I used to check for a certain figure all morning long they checked for almost a half-hour and came out 5( short.

Just before heading back home we did walk over to a lemonade bar and ordered three doughnuts - one a piece and one for Sgt Davis who drove us in. There was a mix up because the old man who had given us our tickets didn't understand one word of English and had given us tickets for ice cream which cost more than the doughnut tickets. I then spoke to the regular ticket lady and she explained it to the old man. In the end it seemed that we got a doughnut out of the deal for nothing.

Somehow the town seemed to be very alive yesterday and I would have enjoyed spending the afternoon looking about the place. I would like to take a look at their library, their different districts and the various stores.

When I keep telling you that we are rewinding film in the Projection Room, this is what takes place. Someone uses the film before we do and does not take the trouble to put it in its proper sequence. That means that before we can run it off we must do that necessary work. While we are doing this we see that there is not too much nor too little leader and ending. If some part must be taken off or added, we must cut the film and glue on that part we need. The cutting of film is done on a little gadget called a splicer. After we have run the film off, it is once more in proper sequence and we must rewind it for the next user. If any breaks occurred during the running of the film, we must repair them after the show.

I enjoyed the picture very much and Louise Rainer played the part of Anna Held just about perfect. In fact just about everyone in the picture was good. The bantering between William Powell and Frank Morgan certainly created a lot of laughs. And Fanny Bryce was a comic. I think I remember you and Aunty Florence coming home from the Villas after seeing the picture and raving about it for the next week. In a way my habit of not going to see movie pictures back in civilian life is finally paying dividends. There have been fellows who have seen almost every one of the pictures that have been shown around here and almost everyone has seen at least half of them. So far there have only been three which I have seen before and two were good enough to see over again.

Just before I came up to the booth yesterday, Roman F Burkard told me that a package came for me. He imagined it was the watch but when he described its small size and the fact that it was not sent air-mail, I knew that it couldn't be the watch at all. It set me to wondering as to just what it was but I did not have the time to wait for mail-call to get it. Just before the show began I heard a voice outside the booth ask Lt Yantis, "Is Klick in there?" --- "Why, yes, he is." --- "Will you give him this?" --- "Surely." I was Larry and he had brought up the package and two letters from you.

I was still in the dark as to what was in the package especially after seeing it was from you. I have been concentrating so much on the watch that I completely forgot about the flashlight being on the way. Thanks a lot for sending it out, Aunty Clara. It has a good strong beam and is going to be a lifesaver on many dark night to come.

So-long,   /s/ Roman   Roman