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

Dear Aunty Clara,

Wednesday



Yippee, hurrah, I got a package in the mail. But, and it's a great big but, it was not the one I had expected viz., the one containing the tooth powder, bulbs, batteries and the newspapers. This one was a Christmas present sent to me from Mrs. Boyer. The name of it is Special Treat and contains these items: 4 small jars of jelly (Pectin Jell, Wild Cherry flavor; Pectin Jell, Crème de Menthe flavor; Pectin Jell, Cinnamon flavor; and pure Apricot Jam), 4 small boxes of assorted cookies, 7 caramels, two cellophane bags of hard candy, one bag of tiny round flavors and the main event of the box one fruit cake! How do you like that?

I've split the candy and the cookies with Larry (he's already shared several boxes that he has received from home with me) but so far I haven't touched the jelly or the fruit cake. Those things will keep and we weren't so hungry for extras this evening. I haven't tasted any of the cookies yet but Larry says they are fresh. Believe it or not, the hard candy which I have been eating tastes alright so I guess I'm going to eat and enjoy the can you have already sent out.

To keep my word with you and also to be more considerate of those who have been so kind as to think of me, I've already dispatched a letter (poor as it was) to Mrs Boyer thanking her for sending me the gift box.

It was a two pound box and she had to put 59 cents worth of stamps on it. The fruit cake must weigh about half of that.

The Christmas packages are beginning to come in by the floods now. It is almost like the days just around Christmas time back in Oregon although this time the season is a little advanced. Ordinarily Kutulis the mail clerk takes a small 1/2 ton truck into town for the mail and evidently that was not enough this morning because this evening he had to go back once again to pick up the mail and this time he brought back 25 sacks of mail. Surely your first package should be in that bunch. Perhaps we will have a package distribution at noontime tomorrow seeing as how they came in tonight.

In between writing Mrs Boyer's letter and starting this one, Larry and I went over to have a late evening shower. Luckily the water was still warm and we enjoyed the refresher. However the shower washed off all the mosquito dope which I had put on so I'll only stay here long enough to finish this letter and then I will scram over to my tent and the protection of the netting.

The news this evening was anything but good. Just at the very last the announcer slips in a sledge hammer blow kind of gently as he says the British evacuated the island of Kos in the Aegean Sea in the face of powerful Nazi land, air and sea attacks. Are they afraid to tell us the news straight from the shoulder?

The movie schedule is being revamped and we can't tell from day to day just what we are going to have until the film is actually delivered. Starting the first of November we will begin showing every night a week once again and the holidays will be over. It has been a long time since I've had such a long stretch of evenings in which to do as I pleased. Even when running a show here, it is over shortly after eight o'clock which still leaves a good portion of the evening available for oneself.

Because of the failure of the mail service in connection with your package, I was forced to buy for myself at the PX this evening one can of tooth powder. The brand was Pebeco and price was all of ten cents.

And so on this uneventful night among uneventful nights I bid you a fond adieu.

So-long,
/s/ Roman
Roman