Home | Return to Index

Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
Co "A", 353rd Engr Regt
A.P.O. #502, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
August 26, 1943

Dear Aunty Clara,

There is a different feeling when a person writes a letter at a different desk than his own. I walked into the office this evening and found six fellows all busy typing letters. One was at my desk so after taking out a sheet of V-mail, I took my typewriter over to Lt Yantis's desk to type. It seems that most of the fellows have seen that movie with Bob Taylor so they have decided to catch up on their back correspondence.

They showed our good music makers again this evening and as usual they were good. The band thought up one of their humorous novelty numbers and it not only interested the soldier audience but it also got the canine audience into action. They called it some sort of tin pan band with five musicians getting around the mike wearing the craziest looking hats you ever saw. The drummer came up with a washboard and a little squeegy horn. The number was "You are my Sunshine" and they made so much racket and sang so screechy that the dogs began barking for fair. The drummer is a crazy guy and he chases the dog and at the same time makes the most annoying sound on his washboard. That was a show all in itself.

I just thought of why it seems different sitting at another desk writing letters. I adopted a trick from Blumenfeld and during the day I had written several items on the top of the desk which I had meant to bring up but I guess they can wait until tomorrow.

I rewound the film and fixed up the machine so that it was all set for the show this evening. One of the things which must be changed is the lens. You see, our screen is more than three times the distance away from the projector as it is at the other outfit. That means that we must use two different lenses, one for each place.

One of the petty differences which came up the other day between Censky and I when we built the tent floor was the matter of clothes hangars. We had to cut down the old ones because they were stuck in the ground. The problem was what type of hangar to place in the new tent. I immediately rigged up a regular monstrosity which would look horrible in any tent and suggested we use it for the time being until we could get something better. The others were for the idea because they wanted to hang their clothes up but Censky disagreed and told me that that clothes rack was not coming in the tent and perhaps that evening or the following day he would build a better one. Mersing, however, being a better carpenter than yours truly, fixed the temporary hangar so that the size was cut down and it was much more sturdy than before. It was used for our clothes for three days and I had just reached the point of congratulating myself for making it because no new rack had gone up. I take it all back now because the boy built one this afternoon which is really alright and I have to give him credit. It is a large frame which is built around the tent pole. The bottom holds the barracks bags and the shelf on top holds the gas masks and helmets. Clothes are hung on two sides and Censky has made himself a neat little shelf on the side facing his bed.

No more mail for me it seems. For two days now I haven't received any V-mail. But I am sending out mail again as you will take note of the note I sent to Hesser. Who knows but that Uncle Jack and Aunty Florence might be getting a letter one of these sad days.

The study of my foreign language has stated once again. I spent some time this afternoon brushing up on some things I should brush up on. In other words I am lazy like getting into the spirit of studying once again.

The piano practice has come to a standstill as they have filled up the big tent with articles awaiting distribution. Saturday night is going to be a big night in the big tent with Company "D" having its dance.

So-long,
/s/ Roman
Roman