Sgt Roman F. Klick 36620923
HS 1393 Engr APO 75
c/p SF Cal
20 June 1945
Dear Aunty Clara,
Wednesday
This is the second letter for today and is being written after the evening's celebration. We went to a dance hall and it was a mammoth place. In peace time it must have been an extremely classy joint for there are places for lights galore although since the Japs came through and devastated everything it is pretty much in disrepair. There used to be glass mirror all around the walls but they were also destroyed. The Filipino band sure can give out with the jive numbers and there are more jitterbugging numbers than there were waltzes.
And here is the payoff. We came there early so we could get good seats near the orchestra or band and also so that when the free lancing girls would come in, we would be available. But my three dancing partners, Bill Grauel, Eddie Lee Sackett and Walter Lewis couldn't get to first base and me, strictly a wall flower, got disgusted with the situation as it was an promptly went out to find at least one girl. I came across a doll who wasn't the blossom of the place but also wasn't the rasberries either. So I ups and asks her if she will join us and she says she is a taxi dancer and not like the other girls who just come to dance. I ask her what she charges and she says ten pesos for a nights dancing. Says I, "Some other night." Then I walked away and stood around looking for some members of the opposite sex who were likely prospects (meaning available and pretty fair on the looks). After a half an hour of such monkey business without success I went up to this taxi dancer again and told her that she wasn't going to make any money sitting out the evening so she might as well come to our table and spend the evening with my friends. That just about knocked the guys over when I walked up with her - Margie. I told Grauel to dance with her and then egged Sackett and Lewis on telling her I had brought her over for a good time so they might as well dance with her. They did. I also told them just how I inveigled her to come over so Sacky suggested that they give her five pesos at the end of the night. It ended up about three more fellows from the company joined us and they all pitched in to give her the ten pesos she asked. They can get away with that because there is definitely a shortage of women at the dance hall.
But I haven't told you the best part of it yet. After all the other fellows had danced with Margie they wanted me to and I told them and here that it would only be a miserable two numbers and that I didn't find her for me to dance with but for them. However, all my protestations were in vain and sure enough, I found myself out on the floor, doing of all things, jitterbugging. I don't know just what kind of contortions I went through but she did most of the leading, twirling around and dancing at fingertip and arms length away and all that. Then they slowed it down a bit for the second dance and I'll be darned if I couldn't even remember the little old two-step and really messed up on that deal. I told her I wasn't much good and she said I could jitterbug okay for a beginner and it wouldn't take me long to step out like a veteran. Undoubtedly a little professional job of drumming up business for future evenings of dancing. However, for ten pesos a night I can dispense with the jitterbugging.
At approximately eleven o'clock the dance ended and an H&S truck was there to pick us up and bring us back home.
So-long, /s/ Roman Roman