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Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
Co "A", 353rd Engr Regt
A.P.O. #502, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
August 10, 1943

Dear Aunty Clara,

I am writing you this letter before suppertime today because Lt. Yantis is going into town this evening and I will be in charge of the Projection Room all by my lonesome this evening and therefore may not have another opportunity to write. The picture which is playing tonight is one which I have seen "Lady of Burlesque" with Barbara Stanwyck. Lt. Yantis ran the film off in the projection room last night and fixed several breaks which he found so everything should go off rather smoothly this evening.

Well, I finally have a boy scout knife. I told you that I was never issued one in Camp White and ever since then I have been trying to get one. Today George Myers, our supply sgt, gave out knives to all those who didn't have them. They sure do come in handy and I have been forever borrowing other people's knives.

I don't know how the mail situation is today because I haven't seen Burkard. I really don't expect anything after getting six letters from you in three days.

We were supposed to be started on the payroll today but other work has been popping up right and left and it may be well into tomorrow before I will be able to start on Company A's payroll for this month.

Since the PX has been selling candy in unlimited quantities, everyone has been offering everyone else a candy bar but we all bought a box of one type of bar or another. Just a week and a half ago or so half of the fellows would have given their right arm for any kind of bar.

I've been reading still more concerning the National Life Insurance plans and there are very few questions which remain in my mind. I'm glad I have started thinking about it this early in the year because by the time November 16 rolls around I will know exactly what I intend to do. I'm going to see if I can't get hold of a spare book which I could send to you to read (and hold for me so that when I am out of the Army we will have a handy reference concerning the policy and will not have to go thru all kind of correspondence to get any question answered). If I can't get a copy, I will type the information out on regular paper and send it by slow mail. There are several details which have come up that I did not know of when I wrote about the insurance and which I will include in a separate discussion which I shall send along with the copy of the complete information regarding it.

Last night after mailing you the two V-mails dated August 9, I address an air-mail envelope and sent the Home Edition of the Bulldozer. That reminds me that by eight o'clock tomorrow morning I will have to have some news for this week's Bulldozer.

In addition to the show this evening we are going to have a regular program of some sort or another. I believe that we are to have a speaker who will discuss this island. He was supposed to have spoken on a previous occasion but doubtful weather had produced only a small turnout and instead of speaking he stayed to watch the show.

Just now the band struck up with some music. Every evening just before the flag is pulled down we have from ten to fifteen minutes of music by either the band or the drum and bugle corps. I thought it was peculiar to have a band with a regiment. It seemed that a band didn't have any place in a war but evidently we're not the only ones who have bands. In the movies the other night which dealt with the blitz of the German armies they showed glimpses of German bands which accompanied the troops right into the edge of the battlegrounds of the low countries and France. Maybe that is why they have bands along with the armies, to make the whole thing seem less like war and more like home. In that picture "Commandos Strike at Dawn" they even had a bagpiper follow the soldiers during the thick of the fight.

So-long,
/s/ Roman
Roman