Cpl Roman F. Klick 36620923
HS 1393 Engr APO 709
c/o PM San Francisco, California
23May44

I received two V-mails this morning from you dated the 11th and 12th of May. No, I guess after you took care of me for all those long and weary years, you wouldn't mind a few kids playing machine gun in the house. Some people get tired of listening to that noise after just a little bit and they are the kind of people we never liked when we were kids. You probably ran across the same kind when you were small too. Maybe that mail from the Pulman Co for Uncle Jack means that they want him for a job. I wonder if he will take it or whether it is even advisable for him to take it since he likes the collecting job and it seems to agree with him. It is better to be working at something you want to be working at rather than just something which pays the most money.

That is one thing which the weather out here never does and that is change temperature so erratically the way it does in Chicago. Out here it seems to stay the same at all times. Once in a while we get a few humid days in which the sweat doesn't evaporate and it seems hotter than usual but as a general rule the weather is ideal. A breeze is always blowing and if you are in a building, out of the sun, you are as cool as if you were working in an air conditioned joint. At night the weather remains warm until away late in the morning when that little chill settles down and makes you draw a blanket around your shoulders. In New Cal this chill period came earlier in the night and sometimes was cold enough for two blankets and shelter half while here it is barely noticeable yet the night has never once, since I've been in this South Pacific area, been too warm for comfortable sleeping. That is one type of night which doesn't seem to exist in these parts while in Chicago you have those hot, humid nights from the month of May through the month of October. I've never liked Chicago weather and I doubt if I ever shall. When it's windy, it's too windy. When it's cold, it's too cold and so forth all down the line. There are some nice summer days but that is about all.

Say, that sure did surprise me to hear about Charley Matcha making a miniature model of Fort Dearborn and most of all, drafting up plans for the thing in advance of construction. We often wondered how they could sit home night after night doing nothing we thought. Evidently he has put hours and hours of close work on both the model and his stamp collection. Once a person gets interested in those things he can while away the hours like nothing just working away at his hobby. Now, if I were Charley, I would get myself some toy soldiers and things to people the inside of the fort and then try to give it the picturesque touch by having Indians whooping it up around the outside. They sell those little toys for just about that period too.

By the way, I wrote to Pat last night. It wasn't a good letter at all and I wasn't satisfied with it and I'm doubtful as to what she will think of it but I wanted to answer one of her letters for a change without delaying one day. I never have answered one that quickly before. I wrote it out on a piece of 8 x 11 paper and mailed it in an airmail envelope. I just didn't have inspiration to write last night.

Well, this morning I had my daily ride over to the Motor Pool in a jeep and am getting so that I know that road from here to there and back again blindfolded. I sure do like those jeeps. They would have been a good car to have when going to High School. After this war, though, we are going to get one of those big deluxe Buicks I used to just look at before the war. The jeep would be the thing, though to run out to the golf course with or to do a lot of shopping down 22nd Street. The only thing that I have to figure out is how I will be able to get together all the money I will need for the cars, the homes, the business and school. Maybe I'll inherit a fortune, write a book, discover something, eh?

So-long,
/s/ Roman
Roman