Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
HS 1393 Engr APO 709
c/o PM San Francisco, California
30 May 44

Dear Aunty Clara,

Tuesday



Once again I'm writing my letters very late at night and I'll only have sufficient time to write the ones to you and that will be all. It is too bad that I have wasted so much valuable time when I could have been getting off answers to my inter-island mail so that I will have ample time to answer the States-side when it comes in once again. However, here is what really kept me busy. At noon it was the reading of the Chicago Daily Newses of which I received some six or eight of in this morning's mail. I had fully intended to write at that time. Then, after four o'clock, we had to go down to the barracks and get our laundry ready to turn in and I began reading a magazine down there until five o'clock so I thus effectively killed that time also. After supper, I returned to the barracks to finish reading that magazine and by that time the fellows were getting ready to go to the show. The show was extra long this evening with about two complete reels of shorts before the main event of the evening. And the feature picture turned out to be a sensational comedy with Monte Wooley. The name of it was "Holy Matrimony" and was a riot from the start to the finish. He just drooled sarcasm at times and had a wife in the picture that had a wit that was every bit as caustic as his was.

After the show, the Canteen opened up and we had company this evening --- none other than Morris E. Mersing. After the Canteen closed up with the usual round of coffee and the talking which seemed to have hit a new high under the inspiration of Monte Wooley, we retired to the office where Mersing tried blowing on Jerry Angert's trumpet and he got better sounds out of the thing than any of the buglers we have including Mathis who is the best of them. That Mersing is quite a remarkable fellow. He is brilliant, can do all sorts of work either office, clerking, driving, mechanical or sales while he plays both a trumpet and a piano.

Jack Molyneaux himself was in here this evening and that is the next thing to a miracle. The way it happens is that Jack spends all his spare time in B Company with his gang of fellows and stops in the office on his way in at night. It is strictly against his principles to be seen inside the office at any time between the hours of four o'clock in the afternoon and seven o'clock the next morning.

Working just off and on today on the pay vouchers for the officers without struggling too hard to hit any production record on them since it isn't even the end of the month of May as yet; I managed to knock out one-third of them. However, after I go thru the next third, I'm going to run into trouble. Every one of the last third is going to be a lulu for that includes the new Warrant Officers we have in the company or I should say in the Battalion and it also includes several officers beginning to get longevity pay as well as having the government owe them some money and which must be collected via the pay voucher.

There is not so much work as there was before and quite a lot of it is sort of indescribable since it covers anything from answering questions of anyone in the office to doing little odd jobs or looking up some past information.

The meals in the mess hall were super this evening and at noon. At noon we had for the highlight of the meal, one serving of ice cream with raisin pie! At the evening meal we had a Canteen special which is none other than toasted cheese sandwiches with coffee. They were delicious and beat anything our 1st Canteen Cook Lewis can turn out on his hot plate. The mess hall toast is browned evenly on both sides instead of being half burnt on each face.

By the way, we got our water can back with a spigot affair welded on to it and now the fellows won't go spilling that water all over my file cabinet when they try to get water out of the can by tipping it over. Now they just turn the spigot valve and measure out their water.

I received three letters from you today dated 18th twice and the 20th once. Those whipped cream cakes we used to buy at Dressel's and which Mrs Reed bought for Lynne's birthday party would sure hit the spot out here. Please send me one in the next mail. The Reed's sure did buy little Lynne enough birthday presents, eh?

We are undecided about Leishman making a company clerk or not. From what Sackett and Jack have seen of his work, they are dissatisfied and what little I have noticed hasn't been so extra good. He himself does not want the job any longer and has spoken to Lt Suiter about getting out of it although the difficulty is trying to find a suitable and an acceptable replacement for him.

Do you know that last night sitting out there in the dark with the truck caused me to get bit by a mosquito in about three or four different spots? I had asked a guard out there if he had any mosquito repellant but he didn't. The stuff we had brought along with us was with the fellows at the theater area so I didn't have a chance to put any on. Those are the first I've been bothered by the pests and I'm wondering if there will be any ill effects resulting from it.

For the time being it appears as if Dock Haley will not be running the Bulldozer and while he is not at its head, it has come under the joint editorship of Tommy Campbell and little Halper. They will no doubt have a grand time putting it to press for they don't give a hoot for anything.

Well, I hope that tomorrow's letter tells me that you located an egg beater and that it is already on its way. I've been conserving on the amount of milk I've been consuming for we haven't had any new boxes of jungle rations for some time and if we continued using up that canned milk at the rate we had been, there wouldn't be any of it left by the time the can I mean egg beater arrived. We are pretty sure, though, that we will get in some more cases of those jungle rations soon.

Your mail has always seemed to come relatively slower than other mail coming from Chicago. For instance, almost ever since John Edie and I began comparing the dates of our letters both coming from Chicago, he has invariably managed to get his a day or so ahead of mine. Why that is I do not know but so long as the mail is coming regular as it is now, I'm not one to complain about it.

Just to keep in the swing of things, I am going to make this letter a formal request for a couple bags of those licorice candies. You know what I mean, those things that look like "Black Crows". Lewis's girlfriend sent him some and they were good to chew on during the course of the day. She also sent him a small jar of pimento cheese and if these things don't take up ration points and you would like to send it, I would be only too glad to receive the same.

From never asking for anything but books and things, I've certainly become a gimme, gimme, eh? We, meaning Sack and I, had been working on a letter for one of the officers and we had that thing down perfect so that there could be none of this army hooey about retyping the thing over again about six different times before it is right. It is correct, for Jack personally went down to the Service Command to find out about it, yet the officer came up to Jack and said "I've been in the Army a longer time than you, Son, and I know how those things are addressed". Jack just smiled and I almost broke out laughing for Molyneaux has more tome working inside the army offices than that officer has been in this Army. We had to type the thing over again knowing it is incorrect but are saving the original job so that when the present one bounces, we can substitute it as it should be.

So-long,
/s/ Roman
Roman