Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
Co "A", 353rd Engr Regt
A.P.O. #502, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
13Oct1943
Dear Aunty Clara,
Wednesday
When I got back to the company tonight, I found that the payroll had been brought back from our platoon up the island. There were still some forty names to be signed by the men present in this camp. For the purpose of getting those signatures I stayed in the dayroom until six o'clock and then brought the completed payroll to the office. I thought I would be able to take the payroll up to Lt Yantis this month and just have him sign his signature and nothing else; but the fellows sort of bawled the works up this time and I'll have to ask him to initial about ten places where they made mistakes in signing their name. Two fellows signed on the wrong lines, three fellows left out their middle initials and three fellows put their rank as part of their signature. I believe that I can correct all the errors and get the men paid but next month I am going to ask Lt Hanton's permission to post a bulletin telling them how to sign the payroll once again (after a year in the Army) and then if they go ahead and do it wrong they will not get paid for that month. That is one sure fire way to let the lesson sink in.
Anyhow, after returning the payroll to the office and listening to the lousy news reports which mentions that our troops are making slight gains in spite of stiffening resistance, we decided to go to the PX and buy some more Butterfingers. Unfortunately, they were sold out by this time; so we decided to go down to the outfit up the road a way where they have that immense PX which I told you about in Sunday's letter. There was a mile long line over there waiting for cokes and just as many waiting for other things. We got our candy bars in short order and then thought we would take in the movie. There movie was one we saw, "The Bells of Capistrano" so we came back to the office.
I'm tired once again even though it is only 8:30 and I think that as soon as I finish this letter I will go directly to my tent and to bed. Right now the mosquitoes in this tent are worse than ever. I'm wondering what we ever put the screening up for because with the doors shut at night, we have more mosquitoes in here than have been in our personal tent for the last month. During the day we let both doors open and thus destroy whatever beneficial affect the screening might have during the day time as far as keeping flies and other bugs out.
Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom, the comedian and screen actor, will be out here to perform in our amphitheater tomorrow evening along with the band and the usual Thursday night entertainment. We thought he was going to be at the other outfit tonight and that is one of the reasons we went down that way.
Our amphitheater is quite an attraction with its good screen, ample seating capacity and the swell stage. It is even advertised in the Island Daily Bulletin when we have a celebrity visiting us. Fellows from other outfits for miles around come to our amphitheater to watch the shows. The Island refers to us and our site by the name of the valley we are in and it is a rather humorous one; but that will have to wait until the end of the war. We, however, refer to our camp as Trowerville in honor of our founder, the Colonel.
Larry and I are slapping these mosquitoes down like Yanks knock Japs out of the skies. My score to date is three mosquitoes for sure and two possibles. But they keep coming on. They must have some sort of fantastic production schedule that they can keep up the replacements like that. They are smart guys too because they come at you in your shadow where they are hard to detect. Correction on the score: Larry -- 6 sure, 4 possibles. Myself: 4 sure and 9 possibles. I'm heading for my mosquito net right now.
So-long,
/s/ Roman
Roman