Eastchurch
Nov 1st pm

Dear Ann

Do you remember the little flash light you gave Papa one Xmas. I have it with me & it is the most useful thing in my kit. The place is nearly always in darkness & our sleeping quarters are some little distance over a field and there are a few muddy ditches & fences to get over on the way. They are still using the larger flashes over there & I have a hard time getting batteries for it.

I expect now to go to the Mediterranean but will likely be held on the war flight here for about a month doing coast patrol & getting after Zepps.

We had a cross country run sprung on us yesterday - 4 miles. I finished near the top but I am so stiff I can hardly walk today. About fifty started. Wing Captains, Commanders, all running over ditches, fences, fields, & a swim through a river. The first three were given an extra day leave the last three to finish had their leave cut off for the month.

The weather is very bad & we get very little flying. We should have finished the gunnery course here two weeks ago but we are still here.

We have a band made up of mechanics, five fiddles and a few drums. They play in the officers' mess once or twice a week. It's about the only diversion we get as all the towns around have fever & are out of bounds.

What is it going to be. Hughes or Wilson. The feeling must be strong for Wilson I should think. You will be down in the south by this time & how does Skip like the work. I often think of what a good fellow he is & how kind he was the night before I left N.Y. We shook hands in the corner of Broadway & 42nd street. Gee I wish I was on the old spot now. Old London does not look good to me. I must have been to long in the building construction. Everything seems to hurt when compared to a modern skyscraper the new buildings I spent so much time in before the war.

It is just supper time so must cut this short. You would laugh if you could see the mess. No order at all. Everyone talking & yelling at the stewards for something to eat. Some of the messes are very formal but at the stations here it's the very opposite.

With lots of love

Pete