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

I received your letter of November 15th in which you say the South Pacific Daily News reached you in six days time. That is fast delivery, eh? Maybe an occasional airmail letter would help speed things along now and then. John T. Edie wrote a letter to his sister a while back and he had the good fortune of having it arrive in exactly four days which is a little short of a miracle because actual travel time by air between the South Pacific and the US plus the other handling takes almost that long at a minimum without taking into account the delay in censoring.

I also received a Daily News of the 13th of November. I can see now that all Daily Newses aren't going to arrive and quite often they are going to come in mixed up order. That does not detract from their value though. The only part of the paper which becomes confusing then are the comics because a regular thread of a story is being followed.

The show will be in the giant tent tonight and will be run off twice for the benefit of those who will not be able to crowd in for the first performance.

My system on the payroll for December is being held up but starting tomorrow it had better start rolling along because in another week and a few days I will be wanting to turn out that payroll.

I was surprised to hear that you thought that my first year in the Army seemed longer than that. However, there is a reason for that. You have remained at home where (1) you haven't been having such exceptionally unusual things happening to take your mind off the passing of time and (2) you are still living in a climate that has seasons which further adds to the noticing of time's movement. Especially living thru a winter. That season alone seems like a year when it is cold and snowy like the last one was.

On the other hand, you know my story. One day has been like the next and they all seem like balmy summer days of July and August. And everyone knows how quick the summer passed by. Then too, things like the orientation to Army life, the furlough (plane trip), the moving to the port of embarkation, the boat trip, the arrival here, the looking over the new place and the settling down all tend to fill the day and make things go by at a comparatively faster clip. That still doesn't stop individual days from dragging out but the retrospective view seems so short that it doesn't seem but a short time since we left the States.

Mrs. Boyer's address is 3756 West Huron, Chicago "24", Illinois and her first name is Harriet

That was a surprise to hear that the elevated lines and the buses are hiring colored people for jobs as guards and drivers. It really isn't so bad because that job is more or less on the order of a public servant and no people should resent the fact that colored employees hold down the positions. However, I suppose there will be trouble every once in a while when some arrogant fellow gets on his high horse and picks a fight with them. With all the race riots they are having every place else it would not be surprising to start having them in Chicago too. In fact, what is surprising is that they haven't had anything serious up to this time.

I guess the chow call beat me this evening. It sounded about two minutes ago and here I am still tacking on the finale to this letter. You know, there were three big sacks of mail today and I thought sure I would get a package in them but no such luck. I'm not so worried as before about the boxes of candies because you mailed them towards the very end of the mailing period and as long as Christmas packages still come in, I have a chance of getting them.

So-long,   /s/ Roman   Roman