Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
Co "A", 353rd Engr Regt
A.P.O. #502, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
30 November 1943
Dear Aunty Clara,
Tuesday
According to the Sopac News the new Chicago V-mail station doesn't start until tomorrow, December 1st. Somehow or another the Chicago papers jumped the gun when they announced the beginning date as the 15th of November. The Sopac also goes on to say that it will be a great saving and that soldiers overseas should realize the value of V-mail more than ever now.
Last night the mosquito problem was so bad in here that I had to wrap mosquito netting around my head to keep them off of me because I had just come from the showers and hated to put on the dope. Other preventive measures were to pull my socks over my pants legs and button up my sleeves and shirt collar. Tonight I came prepared with my head net but because it is cooler this evening they do not seem to be on the hunt.
The story of the show was pretty lousy I thought, with Alice Faye and Tyrone Power being in love for about a day or two and then to break up for years and years and years until at last they find each other again. Fantastic! The music was good and Ethel Merman is a good singer (as if the critics needed my assent to that fact).
But we had show trouble galore. For one thing, the sound was very bad and the entire first reel was just about soundless. I had been sitting up next to the projection booth but soon moved down to the road right in front of the loud speaker and the screen. At the end of the first reel, Lts Carrozza and Finauer rigged up the system Lt Yantis devised during a brainstorm. The system is to take the sound which comes out of the loud speaker and put it thru a microphone which further amplifies it and sends it to the audience over another set of loud speakers. It worked and they started the show all over again. During the picture, however, there was a blurred spot and Brown allowed the sound mechanism to loosen up while he adjusted the film. This caused a garbled sound which he allowed to persist for a good ten minutes. He finally stopped the machine and adjusted it and then threw the film out of focus. All in all, he had one of those miserable nights which I used to write home and tell you I had experienced.
The new 1st Sgt Cooley has been getting the Company on the ball. He called a meeting of all sergeants and at the same time restricted the Company. There seems to be no end to this extra work around the Company Area for this evening everyone went up on the hill in back of the tents to cut the grass. Mersing is no longer going to drive for Lt Hanton but will go back into the Orderly Room since he can assist the new 1st Sgt in the ways and means of running an Orderly Room. Mersing didn't earn his nickname of "Little Driscoll" for not knowing anything.
I spoke too soon and the mosquitoes are on the loose once again. The head net doesn't make for such good vision thru it to the paper but I'm going to try to keep from being bit by those dengue fever mosquitoes. Jack must have had a touch of it because he was feverish last night with his insides shivering while he sweated on the outside. A good night's sleep and a good sweat under a lot of blankets did the trick for him.
Before supper this evening I wrote a letter to my Dad, Rose and Rosana. I fully intended to write someone else a letter this evening but the show took so long and it is now almost ten-thirty so I guess we will postpone everything until tomorrow. At least I got another one out and it counts double since I was able to thank them for two things.
I'm going to have to work double hard tomorrow and cram in every available moment on the payroll idea of mine because it is still incomplete and I would like to start the payroll for December on the 2nd. Incidentally, tomorrow is payday once again.
So-long,
/s/ Roman
Roman