WATCH: We had a call on Wednesday to tell us it wasn’t just Olean that had a watchtower for enemy aircraft in 1952.

You may remember Clayton Vecellio had sent us an article from Olean Times Herald about the tower there. Bradford native and current resident of Alexandria, Va., Ron Paterson called to tell us he used to man the station in Bradford.

“It was across the street from the A&P,” he told us. Remember that store was where Grace Lutheran Church is now.

“It was kind of on pilings,” he remembered. “It was way up, you had to use steps to get into it. I was a Boy Scout. We would do night duty there with our scout leader, midnight to four in the morning, probably a time no one else wanted,” he added with a chuckle.

“The code we used was Metro Metro 25 Black. I’m 78 years old, why that stuck with me for so long I don’t know.”

He was a member of Troop 16 that met in the First Methodist Church basement.

Ron said he remembers they would call in, but he couldn’t remember ever seeing anything that aroused suspicion.

Ron said he and his wife, Peggy Everly Paterson, both grew up in Bradford and graduated from Bradford High. They were in town a few weeks ago for a reunion, and he was surprised at the lush greenery still on trees in the area.

He postulated that it was likely due to the rainy summer, and said he hopes to come back up and see the fall foliage.

We reminded him the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has a fall foliage website, which gives reports on the state of the leaves throughout the autumn.

The Allegheny National Forest Visitors Bureau can suggest viewing locations, and even offers itineraries for making a day of it. We’ll sneak in a plug for the Pennsylvania Wilds here. In our opinion, it’s one of the most beautiful regions in the world, especially in autumn.