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

Perhaps I wasn't in the mood to write letters or study this evening anyway. At seven bells I had begun working on my French vocabulary when Thomas Campbell walked in. He propositioned me to go to the outfit up the road and get some cokes. Being sociable (a costly habit) I agreed to go with him. That little bit of friendliness bit one hour's time from my available evening. From that it went on to worse as we came back into the office to find Gunderson working at writing a letter. We got started talking about Chicago, about school, about the elevator trains and what-not which lasted for another hour. Then Beaumont came in and Gordon and Simanoff and others. That took away another hour. Finally I picked up one of these extra small-sized overseas editions of the Time magazine and began reading it. That just about finished my evening except for this letter to you which I have now begun to type after eleven o'clock.

We got hold of some cheese tidbits over at this other outfits PX and came back to smear them with two bottles of jelly which I still had left over from the Christmas packages. I still have one little jar of apricot jam left but am saving that for a special occasion when I might get some salty crackers at the PX.

The news that the Americans are landing at Bougainville is heartening. In fact any news that we are making another step towards the successful conclusion of the war is heartening. According to the news report this evening, we now have a new type of bomber rolling of the lines which dwarfs the present Fortresses and Liberators with a new flying range of a 6,000 mile round trip. Why with a plane like that it would be possible to bomb Tokyo from Attu in the Aleutians. They say in the magazine that it is to be used on the German front first.

The fellows keep ribbing me all day long down at the office about my driving and Lt Yantis with me. However, I believe in taking it safe and not burning up the road. That is the main reason for driving myself because I couldn't stand those speed demons. Gordon came back this evening and I asked him how he liked Yantis's driving. Gordon would prefer me because our Lt is a veritable speed demon himself. The last time I rode with him I had my heart in my mouth all the way.

In the Time magazine there is an article which claims a person can get along on two hours of sleep a day providing he spaces it a half an hour at a time every six hours. They go on the theory that every six hours a person uses up his primary energy and starts burning up the second wind. If you sleep for a half an hour, you can rebuild that primary energy back up for another six hour haul without ever needing additional sleep to build up the secondary reserve which you will never need. I'd like to give it a try but the problem is how to find the half hour during the day to get the required sleep.

Well, it looks like goodbye to the habit of washing our own clothes. The government laundry will be going into action within the next week or so and for a while there will be no charge. Back in the states we had to pay a dollar and a half per month for laundry. It will be a relief to know that everything will be cleaned but good now.

The PX had a limited number of moccasins on sale so they sent one to each company to be raffled off. Our company drew a size seven so I didn't even bother to put my name in the lottery. Quite a few of the fellows wear them since they are easy to slip into and out of and are good for working inside when you needn't walk over long distances on the ground.

The beer came in today and the fruit juices have been temporarily forgotten. Something must be out of kilter with my taste because I can't see what the fellows enjoy in either beer or tobacco. They don't seem to know what it is themselves.

So-long,   /s/ Roman   Roman