Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
Co "A", 353rd Engr Regt
A.P.O. #502, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
10 September 1943
Dear Aunty Clara,
Friday
In civilian life I would have laid down my pen and gone to bed long ago but there isn't much sense to that action in the army. Should I stop writing this letter now, I couldn't be safely ensconced in bed for at least twenty minutes; therefore, I adopt the philosophy that as long as I would be fully awake by that time, I might as well keep from sleeping long enough to finish the letter.
I started the payroll at 9 bells this AM but have not finished it at yet. In fact I am just half way through it, more because of the interruptions than the difficulty. So far there hasn't been a typographical error in the thing but just before quittin' time, I listed a man out of alphabetical order and will either have to do the whole page over again or tack him on at the very end of the payroll.
I hope to be almost finished by noon tomorrow and when I come down to work Monday morning it should be all signed, sealed and ready for me to deliver.
The candy situation is just this: the score for today stands at 7 candy bars. Not a bad take in for one day.
The haircut which is now a week and a half overdue will probably grow for another half a week before it finally gets a trimming at the barber shop. How in the world was I to realize that we would be so gosh awful busy that I wouldn't even have time for that?
The funniest little swelling appeared on my upper lip today. It looks like a mosquito bite and feels like a cold sore. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a bite because they are the bravest mosquitoes I ever saw. Incidentally, while on the subject of animal life, I have been seeing such small mice lately that they look like pygmies to the small mice running around in Cicero. They don't seem to be more than 2-1/2 inches in total length and about a 1/2 inch high.
Company B has a regular little menagerie. Not only has Goldenberg his two dogs, Bobo and Nuisance, but the company now has a deer, two goats and more dogs.
A group of fellows in our company went hunting for deer but although they did see some during their hunt, they brought nothing home with them.
It looks like Blumenfeld's friendship was time just tossed down the drain; for so far, up to this date and from the time he transferred from the regiment, he has made no effort to contact his bosom buddies Larry and Klick.
One of the major items on my new agenda is to do my laundry. It has once again accumulated to such an extent that I have very little fresh clothes to change into.
According to our news bulletins, the Army is reselling back those hotels it bought at the beginning of the war. The most prominently mentioned hotel is the Stevens.
If a stranger went through our headquarters area at night, he would think that everyone was working overtime far into the evening. That is where he would be wrong because in every office they have the same idea --- to write letters. Some evenings look as busy as some days in everyone pounding a typewriter.
My "Uncle Mike" borrowed my still new GI knife today to open up a can of tomato juice but unfortunately for me he made a bjeek of the whole affair. My GI knife is now less one can opener for he left it sticking in the can and handed the knife back with a "So Sorry" on his lips.
Another five or ten minutes and I think I would be falling sound asleep for the night right here in this chair. I'll be writing you tomorrow.
So-long,
/s/ Roman
Roman