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Sgt Roman F. Klick 36620923
HS 1393 Engr APO 709
c/p SF Cal
27 November 1944

Dear Aunty Clara,

Monday

This is the second page to this evening's letter. To pick up where I left off - speaking about prisons. Sometimes I actually think the convicts in Stateville have a better life. In fact, after several years in the Army, I think that a fellow rather acclimatizes himself to what prison life might be like. We (meaning me) were sleeping peacefully this afternoon to get back some of the energy lost over the week-end and someone wakes me up and says to get up to the office and do some work for somebody. I goes up but find Jack Molyneaux doing something which I figured was what I had been awakened for. Jack does it wrong so I did it over. (Editor's Note: I seem to be mixing my tenses and pronouns rather strangely this evening.)

Anyhow, this evening all the NCOs and drivers in the company had to meet in the mess hall where for an hour we were lectured on how not to speed because someone in the company had been picked up and as always is the case, the entire company must go thru this lecture (that is the drivers but almost everyone in an H&S Company has a driver's license because that is just about what makes it an H&S Company). Then, tomorrow night, the entire company has to meet again in the mess hall before the show for something or another. Finally, the next three afternoons are going to be occupied with inspections, parades and preparing for the same.

Since this sheet seems to be comprised mainly of "Army", I'll continue. The morning reports went out rather smoothly and I began to make good progress on my Officer Pay Vouchers for the month of December. Only one difficulty is besetting me at the present time in my work and that is some GI guy down at Island Command who is taking the exhibit remarks for morning reports as shown in the Army Regulations as the letter of the law. A pamphlet once came out and said that exhibits are merely to show in what manner a thing should be done but that it is not necessary for everything to be precisely that way. So, not being GI in any respect, I let the clerks go ahead and do their morning reports by logic and not necessarily by the sample copies of remarks. Now, once a week if not more frequently, we have been getting one back with a little note attached to it quietly informing us how they want it done. That is okay because it makes for uniformity but what they really should do is publish a small booklet with all possible remarks in it exactly the way they want them. In time, as these discrepancies are ironed out, everything will work smoothly.

Gosh, I'm all out of gripes and haven't even finished this page. One thing is for sure though and that is as each day goes by I want to be a civilian more and more. Today completes my 744th day in the Army. Ouch! What hurts the most is not knowing whether there are another 744 days ahead or not.

In the space I have left before being sheet three, I'm going to list the people I sent cards to so far this year - just for the record. Koteks, Carol, Roy Miller, Bob Boyer, U Joe, Rosana, Sarah, Keelings, Muriel, Myrtle, Horns, Michalaks, Bernetts, Millers, Aunt-Aunt, Schmidts, Eleanor, Dolores, U Jack, Senor G, Mrs. Boyer, Marion K, Klicks, Hesser, Pat, George, Jerry, Infiestas, Renee, Catherine F., Dotned, Bradley's, Office, Matchas, A Flo, Tommy, Mrs. Reed, Prokopecs, Dr Kolar, Vinteras, Hutchisons, Frank Drews, Ulysses, Fialas, Kublers, Marie and Arguelles. I have yet to prepare cards for Robbin, Larry, Beaumont and Charley M. The reason I've listed them is mainly because I might lose my list and will ask you for it next year. Second is that you will know who should have gotten them just in case they never show up.

You've been listening to too many Hit Parades. I can tell that when you come around with something like "did you did or did you didn't". Unfortunately, no, I didn't. I would have let you know if I did and I will when I do. As to Aunty Florence's letter, yes, I did receive it and, luckily, I have the date stamped on the back of it when I received it - you guessed it right - it was November 7th, one of the days in which my mail was missing. The last few days I have been falling down on stamping the date I receive a letter but I can see now that it pays dividends. At least we have tracked down something I had written in one of the letters you never received.

I don't know if Carol is going to mind or not but Ike Moreno, the bugler, wanted to write to her so I gave him her address and he sent her one of these Island Command Christmas cards and says in there that he saw her picture that I had and would like to know if she would send him one. In my Island Command card to her I said that she has been elected "Miss 1393rd Engrs of 1944" and that all the fellows would like a picture for their pin-up. Being an unobtrusive sort of chap by nature, it is startling all my friends and old acquaintances to hear about this picture and somehow they get word about it and come up to the office and ask to see it - and there it is - on display right now for any and all to see. I think these boys have been overseas too long.

Here I went to the trouble to get the missing chapter in the story about the Solomon Islands and now I discover that I mislaid last week's chapter and I'll have to see if I can get a replacement for it. Starting this evening, I'm going to send them to you one at a time by slow mail so be sure to keep an accurate check on them. There are fourteen chapters to date. If any one doesn't show up in numerical order, write me at once and I'll try to replace it for these stories of this part of the world are invaluable. It will be a must for future reference and it is too bad that Aunty Florence hasn't a bindery available any longer for it would be nice to put a light cover and back on the sheets.

The last of Mrs Boyer's peanuts are going tonight so it is just about time for Aunt-Aunt's package of nuts to arrive. I still have quite a bit of El's Flavour candy left as well as Mrs B's fruit cake.

I hope I've been more intelligible in these pages this evening than I usually have been. I've had ample time to concentrate on what I was saying instead of merely rushing thru words in a race against time and my drowsiness. But then again, perhaps there isn't much difference - I just write lousy all the time.

Sackett received a funny package today. It was a scrap book just filled with cartoons and jokes gleaned from magazines and newspapers. Funny.

I was out under the sun for about forty minutes today and as always, I smell like bacon or toast the rest of the day. It burns a person to a crisp. However, by a sane dosage of sun, I have kept from peeling. The skin just gets darker and darker by degree.

So-long,   /s/ Roman   Roman