Sgt Roman F. Klick 36620923
HS 1393 Engr APO 709
c/o PM SF Cal
28 July 1944
Hi Anita,
Friday
Sure I remember you. You are the gal from up Milwaukee way with a husband named Bill who can take life's knocks on the chin and come right back swinging and a little literary minded daughter, Renee. Thanks a lot for your letter and for the card which you and Bill sent to me for my birthday. Or should I say Sister Anita and Brother Bill (in loco relationis)?
Please say hello to Bill for me and tell him that I'm glad to see he's really getting back into thick of things after that terribly long siege of illness.
I must be getting old too for I find myself turning back that clock five, ten and even fifteen years continually. I'll never forget that crazy summer when we rented those bikes in Berwyn and instead of both of us going back down with them, I used the L pass and took one back, returned and then took the other back. And it was just about ten years ago that Cermak Park was the swimming pool of the moment both night and day.
Maybe we spoke too soon about the Coca Colas for we haven't been able to get any for quite some time now. Down in New Caledonia is where the cokes were easy to get for not only did the nearby units have coke machines but there were numerous coke and ice cream bars in Noumea. Here, on Guadalcanal, we must wait until our rations come through the PX. However, we haven't missed it much for now we have ice cold orange, grapefruit and tomato juice every day plus all the candy we could possibly eat. The ice cream isn't a daily occurrence either as it was down there, but we do get ice cream at mess at least one time every two weeks.
Say, Anita, I would be more than glad to help around your new home. After I get back home and out of this army, anything I do in civilian life is going to be a pleasure. The furlough proposition at the immediate time is rather far fetched although in another ten months when I will have completed two years overseas, I become eligible for either a 30 day furlough at home and then come back here or else a 21 day furlough home and then to some camp in the States. But even that doesn't mean that the next day after the completion of two years overseas that I can come home but my name goes into a lottery with everyone else who is eligible and from then on it is a matter of chance as to when the name is drawn. The way the war is going it may not be necessary to wait for a return by those means at all but we will all find ourselves going home for keeps.
The best of everything to Bill, Renee and to you.
So-long,
Roman