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Sgt Roman F. Klick 36620923
HS 1393 Engr APO 75
c/p SF Cal
17 June 1945

Dear Aunty Clara,

Sunday

Today was supposedly a work day but goodness only knows that I didn't do much work. I don't know - after seeing the reward one gets for not doing a job, I'm so disheartened that I can not get the slight bit interested in my own work any more. For more than a month Jack does next to nothing and then during Sackett's absence from the office, Lt. Suiter puts him in as the Personnel Sergeant Major. It hits kind of hard when there is such a blindness about doing that sort of thing. As it is I can see doing nothing as the way to get ahead and being a sucker by working hard. Whereas in the prior occasion when Suiter let me take over, I willingly did both mine and Sackett's job and got them both done and with another vote of confidence like that I could have done it again; however, as the situation stands, it looks as if I'm a nobody. Another thing that gets me peeved is that when and if I get my day off, I have one of the electricians off with me instead of one of the fellows in the office. I asked Lewis why I couldn't have had the same day he had off so we could take in the town together and his answer was that Captain Cook said that two "key" men could not be off from the same section the same day. That is a laugh - they let Jack have the same day off as Lewis has.

But at least I can keep my miserable part of my army life confined to the working hours of seven to four. After that I am on my own and my spirits rise a thousandfold and only to record a bitter paragraph as the above to you do I recall the day.

At least one thing is good about the day and that is that I receive some letters - pretty steady now too. For instance, today I received your letters of the 31st of May and the 3rd and 4th of June while also receiving a letter from Aunty Florence. Good grief, the fourth of June and you still have not heard from me. I am impatiently awaiting the letter which you at least get my boat mail if not the first mail from Luzon itself.

In the letter of the 31st you mention and describe the little card you enclosed in the bouquet of flowers to Pat. Yes, I liked it very much and thought that it was most appropriate. Now that it is all agreed that you, Aunty Florence and I all seem to think that everything was perfect, I hope the little gal thinks the same way. Do you know what I dread sometimes? Not exactly dread but do fear in a way and that is that during the past two years and during the next year or two before I get home, that Pat will no longer be a small girl but will have grown tall. The size she was, was perfect although a gain of up to three inches wouldn't have hurt too much. More than that, no.

Speaking of womenfolk, our laundry girl is a pretty good looker and Lewis tells me that when she returned our laundry this evening (just while I stepped out of the tent for about ten minutes) she asked him where his companion was (meaning me) - ahem. I'll have to investigate this situation. Maybe the poor girl has a crush on me and I ought to at least oblige by responding favorably. That would be a joke if I'd get me a Filipino gal. Some GI married a local gal in the church down the road today. I don't believe I will though. O yes, for washing two mattress covers, the charge was 2 pesos or $1.00. However, it was worth it for they are now as clean as linen sheets which is something the GI laundry never did do.

If Charley Matcha is 37 years old, he is going to be eligible for discharge pretty soon as they are continually lowering the age limit and the 35 year olds in the army today are confident that they won't be around any too long themselves. I'll say that it was a good thing that you knew about them coming to pick Charley up because the sight of the soldier coming up the stairs with the fact that you did not receive letters from me for so long a time would have given you ideas.

The Infiestas and Gonzalez must have been sick only to stay until 2 A.M. I'll have to hurry back so that Senor G can at least stay to a more decent hour such as six or seven A.M. Are you getting to be a poor hostess that your guests leave so early in the evening?

Gee wilikers or whatever the expression might be 38 degrees is sure cold for June. I don't imagine many of the early vacationers enjoyed that very much, or the golfers, or the baseball crowd or anybody. Even though I don't like this Philippine weather I prefer it to the cold. This Philippine weather is just no good. You sweat during the slightest movement during the day time and the nights are sticky just like any old Chicago summer night. As I say, the only good thing about it is that it is warm and not cold. Our good luck ever since Camp White thru Guadalcanal couldn't hold out forever.

Since you mentioned the appetizing snack of cocoa and coffee with you had the Sunday night with Senor G, I'll have to give you a little inside dope on what Lewis and I cooked up for ourselves this evening. We had a regular little gasoline burner which really gave out with the heat and with Lewis's mess kit and Norona's pop corn and my bowl we had ourselves a feast. You remember the size of the bowl you sent me, don't you? Well we filled and emptied that thing about six times. And we didn't even have any butter or salt to go with the popcorn. It has a sweet taste, I never knew that before. And for once a bottle of beer tasted good from the first swallow to the last on account of the thirst created by the dry popcorn. We must have been popping the stuff for about two hours in the tent.

These clerks are nuts, they have come down (two of them) this evening to do their morning reports and I've had to take time out to check them. Both of them had errors and they are mighty mad about it. Especially Marsh who has to do an exceptionally long two page report all over. But they are wrong and have to be right when turned in. Back on the Canal I would be lenient with them saying that it didn't hurt too much but they only bounced back from Island Command for correction and then Lt. Suiter would speak to me about it and I in turn had to be just as strict as the regulations. The old clerks are broken in to that and will not turn in anything that is in error (except once in a while when they don't notice it) but Marsh is a new clerk and it will take time for him to get straightened out.

My day off is coming up again this Wednesday - just two working days away - but they way I haven't been producing, the work is ganging up on me and I'm just wondering if I'm not going to find myself in the same boat I was in last week and have to work all that day to catch up with the situation. I pretty much don't care anymore and have almost lost interest in going into Manila. Tired as I am I can't see tiring myself out still more by walking around a city for eight or eleven hours.

My progress on the picture album is coming along fine. I've worked on it two nights in a row now but will take a break this evening because it is getting late enough as it is. I have not noticed just how many pictures I really do have and the number is enormous. I didn't count them but there must be at least fifty of them. About a dozen are Aunty Florence and she takes up some four pages of the book. I've made the front page out of the picture of you and Aunty Florence which you just sent to me recently. It is the best I had available and makes a good start to the book. George's latest pic with his Captain's bars took a page and is okay. You see the binders are small size and when I made the pages, they could only be as large as the cover so to fit four pix on one page I have to make them a solid block and can only do that when they are of one person like Aunty Florence or you. When I get it completed, I will be able to browse through it at my leisure from time to time instead of hunting through my correspondence box trying to locate them all.

This A.M. I again woke up too late for a breakfast and by the time I got over to the company area to mail my last night's letters, it was quarter to seven. I took a chance going over to the mess hall to see if they had any bread and was very much surprised to walk into an orange. Our mess hall across the road is virtually completed and looks snazzy, screening and galvanized corrugated sheets for sides and roof. We've had a different style of construction of mess hall wherever we have been but this one looks like a Zephyr.

So-long,   /s/ Roman   Roman