Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
Co "A", 353rd Engr Regt
A.P.O. #502, c/o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
15 August 1943

Dear Aunty Clara,

We received our campaign hats and along with them came a revision of the order which 1st stated that we should wear them only with our khakis. In typical army style the order now reads that the hats will be worn only with fatigue uniforms and not with khakis. Of course, that suits us fine because I would much rather wear the campaign hat than the fatigue hat. The hat is very deep olive drab and has a braid of scarlet and white (the Engineer colors).

No V-mail came in today so I did not receive any mail. Even Burkard knows that V-mail is just about the only kind I get so he says "Only Air Mail today" and I realize that there will be nothing for me.

I got to bed last night about 1 o'clock and did not get up until 9:30 this morning. Before I fixed my hat up and went around to all the tents looking for late signers of the payroll it was noontime. I had not intended that my morning should have slipped by that fast but it did. There are still about twenty fellows who haven't signed it yet so I posted a notice on the bulletin board telling them to come to the Personnel Section any time this afternoon to do so.

Pfc Albert Welling, the Officer's Clerk, just showed me a very clever little letter he received from one of his girlfriends to whom he hasn't written to for quite some time. On one side of the paper was written "Presenting --- The Tragedy of Poor Little Sal --- or a Hart Breaking Melodrama". On the other side of the sheet was a map of Sally's street showing the different homes, the gas station on the corner and the post office at the end of the street. On the map was a dotted line showing the route the postman took as he went from house to house each day but when the dotted line came to Sally's house it did not go in --- it just passed it by. Then, also enclosed in with this sheet was a bit of torn up paper. When put together these pieces made a heart on which was written "Poor Little Sally's Broken Heart." Unique wasn't it?

It is amazing how few people take advantage of the V-mail. So much of the air mail has been coming by boat that it isn't even funny. Yet in spite of the chance of it taking so long and that it may even be lost in transit many fellows and folks back home still persist in its exclusive use. V-Mail is just about one of the best things that ever happened to a soldier.

Oh, my goodness, Aunty Clara, a sweet bit of French femininity walked into the Personnel Section and asked Walling to type her a bit on his machine. He got so nervous that he couldn't do a thing. She is terrifically blonde and has a very nice speaking voice. Evidently she knows several English words but so far has spoken only in French. I believe she is the daughter of that Frenchman who spoke to us the other night. Wow, she caused a knockout among the fellows. If you didn't hear her speak French you would think that she was a high school jitterbug because she was dressed in a plaid skirt and a brilliant yellow jerkin. She has just walked out of the office now and poor Welling has ruined his letter which he was half finished with. Lt Yantis came in just as she walked out and said "Okay, fellows, get your mind back on your work." Frankly, she is the first "dazzler" I have seen since Thursday morning, April 22, 1943, when I said goodbye to one. Say, what am I saying, from those above words you would think I didn't have my mind on my work. We're getting a laugh now that it is all over with because here Welling was writing to his girlfriend and Larry was writing to his wife yet both of them became somewhat flustered by the vision.

We have been given some postcards to send out with a War Bond Advertisement on them. I am sending you one today and will send a few others out later on.

So-long,
/s/ Roman
Roman