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

What would Anna Stack say about dreaming of the dead? It seemed that I was talking to Clarence Boyer last night in my dream for hours. We were both in civilian clothes and had returned from the war. We were having a very good time talking about old times, our war experience and were just about to start talking about our plans for the future when it dawned on me that Clarence had died. I accused him of being dead and he denied it. Incredulously I asked him what was that I saw in the coffin if it wasn't him. He said that it was some sort of scheme which the Army had collaborated on and another fellow resembling him had died and been substituted in his place.

He had gone home towards the end of the war and was even responsible for those presents his mother kept sending me. It was awfully weird because it seemed so real with him standing before me yet I knew he had died. It was morning then and I woke up with that very glad feeling of knowing he was still alive, but as the seconds passed by I realized that it had only been a flight of imagination on my part.

There was no mail today for me. Very little mail was distributed for the third straight day but today there was no V-mail at all. After that sudden rush of Christmas mail last week, this sudden let down seems twice as disheartening. I'll bet that when the mail starts coming in once again the volume will be twice that of the highest amount so far.

The Daily Bulletin, the South Pacific Daily News and the Company Censors are all advertising the fact that November the 5th is the absolute deadline for Christmas cards if you want them to be sure to reach home before Christmas Day. That is going to be pretty bad if the cards mailed after that day do not manage to get there in time. I hope the people will forgive me when they notice that they will be post-marked in November.

Today's issue of the South pacific Daily News said that the first issue of the paper was o.k. to send home as a souvenir. It also added that they had distributed all their copies and request for additional souvenir copies could not be met. Therefore, those lucky people who managed to get a copy of the first edition really have a souvenir to send home. Have you suspected by now that I have one? Well I do and I thought that I would have to file it away until the end of the war before you could see it now it will be home via air mail starting out with this V-mail.

No show for me tonight. At first we had it planned that Gordon would show the show and I would drive him down, but Lt Yantis is going there again for some reason or another so there isn't much sense in all three of us being there. My letter answering has bogged down a bit so it is just as well that I have the evening free. Tomorrow evening will be another free evening because we have scheduled "Something to Shout About" for our group and I will not care to see that a second time.

Beaumont, mostly, and I, helping, built the ice cream container today. Lt Yantis contributed fibre board for the inner box. All in all it is a good job which Beaumont did. The wood was taken from scrap PX boxes and, believe it or not, it is all matched lumber and not butt joint. That will further its value in keeping the sawdust from leaking out. Roughly, it is a large wooden box with a smaller fibre board box within it. Between the fibre board box and the wooden box is a layer of two inches of sawdust. The five gallon tin fits tightly into the inner box. It is so built that the sawdust can not be seen and almost looks like a professional job. We have already ordered the ice cream and will have it within the next week or this week. There will be more than a quart per man.

So-long,
/s/ Roman
Roman