Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
Co "A", 353rd Engr Regt
A.P.O. #502, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
September 11, 1943
Dear Aunty Clara,
Saturday
Lt. George F. Yantis pulled a fast one on me and as a result my evening was wasted. The stunt was to get a different picture than that which I showed last night. The picture was "Cowboy in Manhattan" with Frances Langford. In addition to the main feature we were treated to four shorts which were: a newsreel, a community sing, a sketch of wartime Washington, D.C. and The Battle of Midway.
The community sing was one of the best ones yet and surprisingly enough everyone seemed to be in the mood for giving out with the voice this evening. The songs were the good old kind like, "Sleepy Time Gal", "Old MacDonald", "The Army Air Corps," and "Bury me out on the Prairie". The "Old MacDonald" song ran along the lines "Old MacDonald had a son". The son was in the army and it went on and on telling what he did in the army with an ee-i-ee-i-o.
It is now just nine o'clock and I came to the office directly from the show. Who knows that perhaps I might write a letter or two extra this evening.
I know that for one thing our tent back in the company area is really beginning to look messy. At noon today, Burkard and Mersing began to haul the lumber up to construct a frame structure so that the tent will hold its shape regardless of the weather. They weren't finished when I returned from work so I helped them during the last half of the job. Not only do we have the frame running around the edge of the tent about three and a half feet high but we also have sideboarding coming up 7 inches off the floor to give the tent a little bit more of a closed in appearance. You see, our tent, commonly referred to by Sgt. Driscoll et al at the Overhead Tent, is to furnish a model for the other tents is the company to copy from. Tomorrow they want to revamp the clothes rack for the upteenth million time and I should help them and will probably end up by doing so even though I should come down to the office and finish that now long dragged out payroll.
I may have told you that last night at quittin' time I misplaced a man's name thus making it necessary to do the page over again. Well, the psychology of repeating work tends to keep you from even starting it and I busied myself with other things in the office today. The deadline is the 15th so there is yet ample time to dash it off.
I don't know how familiar you are with the qualities of canvas but during wet or rainy weather it tightens up and conversely, during warm, dry periods it becomes soft, pliable and loose. It is during those later times that we have difficulty in making up our beds because the canvas wall of the tent just sags down over the cot and practically forms an extra blanket. This is the situation which will be alleviated by using this wooden frame as a bracer.
The old familiar I seems to have taken predominance in my letters again. It is always I did this and I did that. Back in school they said that it was egotistical to continually use the first person singular and that it should be eschewed. Yet I've noticed a lot of letters which were very good which constantly used I.
Larry and I have the craziest arguments some times. Just now he mentioned to me that this last letter from his wife says she was going to buy him a $40 watch for Christmas but when she found out she couldn't insure the thing she didn't buy it. I told him that that was rather silly and he objected to my remark saying that it was not silly. I then told him that we sent the watch to me knowing full well that it could not be insured. The watch in use of the owner is a lot better than sitting at home in a drawer. Anyway, he could not see my line of reasoning that the mere monetary risk involved was insignificant and that if because of war conditions one stood the chance of losing some cash it shouldn't stand in the way of happiness.
So-long,
/s/ Roman
Roman