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

Dear Aunty Clara,

Somewhere in New Caledonia on a Thursday evening.

The USO show came after all. It was a three-man affair with a piano-accordionist and 2 singers. They were good. The accordionists played several solos. One of them was a series of 5 different arrangements of "Pistol Packing Mama". First as the song was written and should be played, second as it would sound if played from the organ of a merry-go-round, third in rhumba style, fourth to the rhythm of the conga and fifth to a boogie-woogie beat. They introduced him as being one of the best boogie-woogie accordionists in the business and he could lay boogie on thick. The other two fellows were both serious and comic singers. Their best songs were in a medley from "Yankee Doodle Dandy". Besides singing they did a little vaudeville act with the fatter fellow playing the part of the "Great Salami" standing blindfolded on the stage while the other fellow went down thru the audience asking fellows where they lived, when they were born, what their army serial number was and the number of a paper bill. They would write the number or name on a piece of paper and the fellow in the audience would then ask the "Great Salami" to read it which he did with amazing accuracy. My guess is that it was done by the words which the audience man spoke to the stage man. It was very entertaining.

The show itself was putrid, as I have already told Aunty Florence in her letter. In addition to being a lousy show, the machine skipped off the track twice and all thru the show, the figures jumped up and down. That latter part probably was in the film itself. Just before the show, I called for Mersing over the PA system and he came to the projection booth. He had asked me to play a certain record for him whenever I was running the show again so I had him come up there and pick it out because I didn't know which one it was.

Two more candy bars went down the hatch during the course of the show in addition to the one I ate before taking the shower this evening. I won't have to worry about those candy bars any too much longer because every time I open the tin can to get one for myself, a few extra are passed out.

I could have crowned Snook today when I came back to the tent after work. He tells me that he borrowed my shoe brush to shine his shoes with. I told him that I had no shoe brush an then he shows me my combination clothes brush and cot brush which I bought shortly after we had arrived on the Island. You can imagine how much good it is going to do me now that it is smeared up with shoe polish! He didn't realize what he was doing so I really can't blame him just like my throwing away the thousand record needle.

There will be not reading of Galsworthy this evening nor will there be any letter to Bob Hesser. As long as no letters are coming in, it is safe for me to hold on to Bob's letter without answering but when others start coming in again, I had better answer them pronto or find myself behind the eight ball once again with a nice back-log.

My method of reading the Daily News day by day will pay dividends in the long run once I get caught up. Right now I have read the News from Nov. 27 yet I still have papers dated on Oct. I read the comics, sports and news items of which I already know the answers to but, as time goes by, and I catch up with the dates once again, I will be reading them in chronological order.

That reminds me. I better not wait for a letter from Uncle Jack before thanking him for the renewal of the Daily News subscription but will send him a letter off for that purpose alone as soon as I write other letters.

I can't think of any good last line tonight so I guess I'll just have to say

"So-long",
/s/ Roman
Roman