December 18, 1954
This letter - postmarked December 18th - appears to be from a friend (or family member perhaps) of Dick's in Victoria in England. She also seems to run what I'm guessing is a guest house - perhaps that specialized in hosting American GIs as she seems to be up on the gossip, so to speak. Though this letter isn't wildly interesting (except, perhaps, in that it shows that Dick had established friendships and family in London, possibly even before he served) I'm including it (a) in the interest of completeness and (b) because I *think* he meets one of his later correspondents at this Guest House. I can't remember which one, but I guess we'll all have to discover that together.
P.S. I find her name actually a bit illegible. Could it be Claire? Perhaps Fleur (less likely since she's English but who knows?) Something else? If anyone has a better guess than mine, leave a note in the comments, but I'm going with Claire until I figure out otherwise.
P.P.S. I assume she's saying it's 15 pence for a shared room per day? Not too bad. Though I have *no* idea what a GI stationed in France would have made at that time - though he couldn't have been doing too badly given how much he seems to travel on his passes.