Letter from Douglas Hudson in Médéa to parents
Title
Letter from Douglas Hudson in Médéa to parents
Description
Intends sending letter by air mail through American consul in Algiers. Encourages them to send letter to him by air mail which takes three weeks as opposed to several months by other means. Commiserates with their difficulties, discusses finances and the weather.
Creator
Date
1941-05-04
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Two page handwritten letter
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
EHudsonJDHudson(Fam)410504-010001, EHudsonJDHudson(Fam)410504-010002
Transcription
R.A.F. 755052 Sgt. Chef. J. D. Hudson.
Camp de Liberté Surveillé.
Hotel d’Orient.
MÉDÉA.
Algerie.
4-5-41
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I am sending this letter to you via Air Mail through the American Consul in Algiers, and I do hope it will arrive quickly. If it is not too expensive I do strongly advise you to write to me via Air Mail. Letters arrive from England in three weeks this way. To-day I have received a letter from you by ordinary mail, written from “Cranford” & dated Feb. 27th. Three days ago I received your Air Mail letter dated April 9th & written from your present address. This just proves how much quicker the air mail service is. However – I am glad to learn that you are both keeping well, but I am only too sorry to realise what an awful time you must have endured. I feel so helpless here, but if good wishes could be of any help you would be assured of a much happier future. You know we get plenty of time here for thought, & I, being a fatalist, am firmly convinced that my arrival here was pre-destined, & now I look forward to that great day of reunion. I realise that mail from here must be uncertain, but you need not have any worries about me, because I am quite
[page break]
all right. I only hope that you may keep well & safe. No need, I am sure, for me to say just how big a blow it is for me that I have to pass my days here. Wish I could help.
I have very little to write to you. We are free here to walk about, we have an allowance, rather smaller than I first anticipated, of about 11/- (eleven shillings weekly) but this is barely sufficient. I am glad my allotment was successfully increased. I will repeat, in case my previous letters have gone astray, that if it will be of any help, well – please take advantage of it.
The weather here remains cool – typical English May, perhaps a little hotter, but not a patch on the weather when we first arrived in Africa. I shall never forget that day. Little did I think then, that I should be here at this time. I often wonder if I shall be in England again next year. I am sending a letter today to E.W.T. my first letter to anybody other than yourselves. I cannot afford to send many because I have to stand the expense. It costs 3 francs 50 centimes (about 5d) per letter. I hope to write to you about every five days.
I will say au-revoir now. Once again I send you every best wish. My thoughts are always with you.
All my love,
[underlined] Douglas [/underlined]
P.S. Have decided to send this letter direct & not via the Consul. Don’t think it is any advantage.
Camp de Liberté Surveillé.
Hotel d’Orient.
MÉDÉA.
Algerie.
4-5-41
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I am sending this letter to you via Air Mail through the American Consul in Algiers, and I do hope it will arrive quickly. If it is not too expensive I do strongly advise you to write to me via Air Mail. Letters arrive from England in three weeks this way. To-day I have received a letter from you by ordinary mail, written from “Cranford” & dated Feb. 27th. Three days ago I received your Air Mail letter dated April 9th & written from your present address. This just proves how much quicker the air mail service is. However – I am glad to learn that you are both keeping well, but I am only too sorry to realise what an awful time you must have endured. I feel so helpless here, but if good wishes could be of any help you would be assured of a much happier future. You know we get plenty of time here for thought, & I, being a fatalist, am firmly convinced that my arrival here was pre-destined, & now I look forward to that great day of reunion. I realise that mail from here must be uncertain, but you need not have any worries about me, because I am quite
[page break]
all right. I only hope that you may keep well & safe. No need, I am sure, for me to say just how big a blow it is for me that I have to pass my days here. Wish I could help.
I have very little to write to you. We are free here to walk about, we have an allowance, rather smaller than I first anticipated, of about 11/- (eleven shillings weekly) but this is barely sufficient. I am glad my allotment was successfully increased. I will repeat, in case my previous letters have gone astray, that if it will be of any help, well – please take advantage of it.
The weather here remains cool – typical English May, perhaps a little hotter, but not a patch on the weather when we first arrived in Africa. I shall never forget that day. Little did I think then, that I should be here at this time. I often wonder if I shall be in England again next year. I am sending a letter today to E.W.T. my first letter to anybody other than yourselves. I cannot afford to send many because I have to stand the expense. It costs 3 francs 50 centimes (about 5d) per letter. I hope to write to you about every five days.
I will say au-revoir now. Once again I send you every best wish. My thoughts are always with you.
All my love,
[underlined] Douglas [/underlined]
P.S. Have decided to send this letter direct & not via the Consul. Don’t think it is any advantage.
Collection
Citation
James Douglas Hudson, “Letter from Douglas Hudson in Médéa to parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 25, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/10880.
Item Relations
This item has no relations.