Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
Co "A", 353rd Engr Regt
A.P.O. #502, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
September 22, 1943

Dear Aunty Clara,

Wednesday



Gee, there sure is a lot to talk about tonight. For one thing I received three letters from you. Two of them dated the 10th and one the 11th. You asks me in those letters about quite a few things I have already written to you about and ask me to do several things which I have been doing. For instance, you mentioned that I could write Dolores a plain "Happy Birthday" on a V-mail form instead of writing a complete birthday letter. You know by now that I finally got around to writing the letter but the birthday greetings were sadly belated.

And then you ask me about the possibilities of fixing up Christmas cards on V-mails. You already know the story on that. If I had the time, or still get the time, I will do so. But with things going as they are it is hardly likely such an opportunity will arise; therefore, that is the reason for the request for you to send me some to resend. I think that they would look pretty good myself if I had the time to fix up a few on V-mail, I mean, because of the quaintness and the small size of the drawing.

Then you asked about the thank you note to the neighborhood for the three dollars. I wonder if you didn't work some sort of telepathy on me because I think it was somewhere around the 10th or 11th that I wrote that letter to them.

You know too that I did send Auntie Lillie a short thank you note for the dollar using the very form you suggested in today's letter --- said thanks and said I didn't have time to write any more.

After being away from cold weather for almost a year and a half, it is becoming difficult to get that old shivery feeling in my mind's eye when you tell me about those chilly September days you are now experiencing. The last real cold weather I have encountered was when I was entered into the Army. However, you do not wish it any more strongly than I do, that we might move from that cold, damp, drafty flat to a warm, comfortable steam-heated one.

It just doesn't seem possible that we are turning out as much work as we are but during the first two hours this morning we couldn't count the number of official letters we typed up. Our office was running at a mass production clip. But in spite of the fact that we had all that work to do in addition to the regular daily reports, I managed to tackle those ever present OCS applications which are still hanging fire. They aren't complete yet but a few more hours work on them will wind them up for good and everyone will be happy.

The most surprising thing happened just about an hour ago. Back in Oregon a fellow in our regiment went AWOL and never did come back before we left for overseas duty. Today we pickup up a man as a replacement and who should it be but this prodigal soldier. He had not only been courts-martialed for the first offense but went AWOL one other time for which he was again convicted and immediately sent overseas where fate had it that he wound up in his own company of his old regiment.

During the noon hour today I laid on my cot and fell asleep at once. The watch is running about fifteen minutes fast and when the bugle blew at one o'clock my watch was almost at twenty after. But to my sleepy eyes it appeared to read four o'clock with the hands reversed. That woke me up in a hurry thinking that I had slept there the entire afternoon until being awakened at Recall.

I take the movie up the Island tonight and Gordon was supposed to go with me to run the machine in preparation for taking it over solo on Friday of this week so that I could attend school. It so happens that he must get out the Bulldozer and will not be able to come. The picture is "Sherlock Holmes in Washington" which I have already seen once before.

So-long,   /s/ Roman   Roman