Sgt Roman F. Klick 36620923
HS 1393 Engr APO 709
c/o PM SF Cal
July 1944
Hi Myrtle,
Saturday
Thank you for the prompt answer to my last letter. I tried to do the same but things just kept going along until now it is a little over a week since I received your letter without writing an answer to it.
What I'm wondering is whether you are going to get this letter alright addressed to the post office box number when by now you are undoubtedly living in your new home where, I presume, you are having the mail delivered to the door as it would be more of an inconvenience now having to go to the post office to pick up your mail. Having a post office the way you did on Clarence Avenue, right next door, is sure handy. In fact, even Aunty Clara found it convenient to visit more often and combine the trip with the mailing of a package.
So you think I'd be willing to be back home right now sitting on a swing in the park even if it were a child's swing, do you? How in the world could such an idea enter your head? Certainly your cousin told you of the wonderful life us fellows lead when we are overseas. Why where could a person see seven shows a week, plus stage shows all for free? Where could a fellow have unlimited and free transportation at anytime and to any place he cared to go? Where also can a fellow live on a beautiful South Sea Island paradise, enjoying the warm days and the cool nights and still get a 20% bonus in his pay for it? Three meals a day, ten suits of clothes, a good job, free medical care, magazines, papers, sports, books, studies all for nothing and the best. No, Myrtle, I found a home in this army and wouldn't trade it for ten million swings in Cicero. Seems to me I'm going psycho-neurotic or something talking like that. If I recollect, I think I gave your mother the same bill of goods in my last letter to her. However, the army does have those things mentioned yet there isn't a man who wouldn't trade all those advantages right here on the spot for just the plain old civilian life once again. There is one fellow in our outfit that can really put that story across good. He will talk on for about ten minutes about how good the army treats a person and then will take is cigar from his mouth, flick a few ashes off the end and say, "I wonder how those poor civilians are getting along back home?"
The shows lately have been on the upturn and are much better than we have been having them. That "Larceny with Mazie" picture which I mentioned in a previous letter was not so very exceptional. Since then we have seen such hits as "Song of Bernadette", "A Guy Named Joe", and,"Get Hep to Love" with Standing Room Only" and "The Adventures of Mark Twain" coming up this week. Tonight the bunch of us are going to the midnight show at the Navy area to see Deanna Durbin in "Fired Wife".
My reading has been confined to the Daily News and nothing more. Someday I expect to be back in Cicero where I can browse through my library just before hitting the hay, take out a book, and then spend the net half-hour or hour reading in bed by the light of my bed lamp. I miss that. O yes, I do manage to read a fair share of the current news magazines to keep up with the progress of the war.
So-long,
Roman