17 May 1943

Dear Aunty Clara:

I received your V-mail letter dated May 13, 1943. As to my whereabouts, well I am in the nameless camp. Perhaps when the war is over, if my memory does not fail me, we shall be able to call these places by their first names again.

Incidentally, I last wrote you on May 16, 1943. That letter or its predecessor, I do not know which, was the cause of much concern to my company officers who, as you know, are the censors. For one thing, in the future my letters to you will have to be errorless. To x out words as I have done in the past is not allowed under censorship regulations. In effect it will be doing both you and me a good turn by making me turn out a better letter. There will no longer be any need for an apology upon my part for its shabby appearance.

In addition to that there were several places where my words were construed to be code or heavy implication. At the moment of the accusation, I was rather peeved about the whole thing; but in after thought I realized that they themselves are only doing their duty and following the prescribed rules and regulations.

A third point which was brought up was the extreme length of the letters. I realize that the letters to both you and Uncle Jack were of exceptionally long length; but it so happened that after three months not corresponding with Uncle Jack, I had a great deal to discuss with him --- mostly about the furlough. And not having written to you for several days necessitated an additional page or two. Lt. London thought it would be a better idea (and easier to censor) if I would break the letters down into smaller units; therefore, when I do have quite a few pages contemplated in the future, I will do just that.

The 'kanker' sore does not bother me at all during the day and very little while I am eating. However, if I chew food on the left side of my mouth, there is a slight irritation remaining.

Three weeks back I meant to write a note to the Army Institute and have them send the rest of the course to me; but somehow, I never did get around to it. The four lessons which arrived so unexpectedly several weeks back turned out to be incomplete. The fifth lesson was missing and in its place was a lesson on being an automobile mechanic instead of a surveyor-map reader.

News note --- Blumenfeld and I have begun a cooperative society. I buy the Newsweek magazine and he buys the Time magazine. After we have each read the one we bought, we trade them. The reason we have probably not done that before this is because the Service Club in the old camp was so close while in this camp it is quite a distance off. As a result, we do not go over there quite as often.

So-long,   /s/ Roman

Editor's Note [December 2004]: written at Camp Stoneman, CA