October 28, 1943

Yip-yup!
Your V-letter of the 19th (#14) came today. But 12 + 13 are still on the way. It is just beginning to be real autumn here now. The leaves seems to fall kind of suddenly when they finally begin, then as I said there are still quite a few green tree left. Autumn here means fog + it has been with us all day today. Today I have been administrative OD which means I am head waiter at meal time + see that the tables in the mess hall are filled up more or less in order, and I am supposed to see that blackout is being properly observed tonight. Not much of a job or particularly bothersome (except that I have to start breakfast at 6:30 AM tomorrow). I wish you all enjoyment in trying to decide on the best spot for burning leaves- or do you float the authority like Mrs. Bowers + use the street? I live next to Tom Gill + Fred Merdiant in the barracks now which is very nice. There aren’t two better guys in the outfit. Tom was at the Graduate Hosp. for 3 ½ yrs, so he is almost a Philadelphian. What there is left of IC seems to have departed for the evening so I am enjoying the armchair in the Club this evening. It is very quiet + subdued tonight being inhabited by a few nurses playing “draughts” + a few officers sitting unobtrusively in a corner. There is a Philips radio here which is about the clearest sounding radio I have ever met. It is only a little larger than the Bosch + had no push buttons, but has short wave which gets NY very nicely. It also gets several long wave stations on the continent and many less clearly. Regards to all the folks.

Love B