Sgt Roman F. Klick 36620923
HS 1393 Engr APO 709
c/o PM San Francisco, California
21 June 1944
Dear Aunty Clara,
Wednesday
I did begin one letter at noon but I have since misplaced it so I might as well start in all over again. The thing which interrupted me at noon was the little job of getting the ice water from the cooler. At that time my morale was at a low ebb for I had not received any mail in the Morning Run and to make matters worse, I had helped Lynd sort out the mail instead of Jack. However, this afternoon the complexion of the picture changed for the better. Four V-mails from you arrived today dated one the 11th, two the 13th and one the 14th. Besides that one letter dated the 11th came from Uncle Jack. Besides the mail, three Daily Newses arrived and it is now imperative that I begin catching up somewhat on them for I'm getting terribly behind on my reading.
Uncle Jack spoke mostly of his collecting job in his letters. There are many things which he tells me about which we also did when I collected for Jack Seefor.
Okay, Aunty Clara, you win. You must still be thinking of the time when I said I was going to buy a civilian suit when I hit Frisco and come home in it with my GI duds put away for ever and ever if you can still dream about me coming home in sport shirts. Of course, I can't guarantee about not coming home on a bike. Perhaps the transportation will break down and I'll have to borrow a bike to finish the last lap of the journey. That isn't the first time you dreamed the part about the bike. Remember away back in Camp White you dreamed of me coming back home down 22nd Place on the bike and with my helmet either on my head or dangling in front of the bike.? I'll come home with my two ribbons and my hash mark for three years service which I will have by that time.
You can rest assured that many saints and others did swear during those nine o'clock at night alerts. And about coming home on a 30-day furlough, I guess that will all be a matter of luck. It could be possible that my name could be drawn for the first group to go back and we could celebrate our quarter and half century marks together next year. But, the way things have shaped up, we had better not count upon it and barring an early return due to sickness or injury or the conclusion of hostilities, the earliest possible "for sure" date would be someplace in the vicinity of July 1947. Maybe we had better not mention that long-off date again, eh? Brrr, three more years!
But, no matter when that furlough does come, I'll almost bet that it will be in the middle of the summer time, or if not, it will definitely not be winter. Why I don't even know what snow looks like anymore and I don't care to feel how cold it can get.
This letter sure is getting the interruptions. I began it shortly after four o'clock and now it is practically six o'clock and I am not finished with it as yet. In the course of time, I went down to the mess hall and had my supper.
We've been very interested, today, in the news. It sure did have a lot of important news telling how the Japanese fleet may be steaming out to battle, the fall of Cherbourg in near and that we captured the remaining airdromes on Biak Island.
So-long, /s/ Roman Roman