Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents

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Title

Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents

Description

Catches up on letters and cables sent and received and notes times taken each way for airmail. Hopes they enjoyed their holiday week. Comments on prepaid cable they sent. Writes that they appear to have been shocked by the postcard he sent with the picture of an Arab woman and explains again why he had to use it. Mentions the weather and goes on with family gossip. Asks mum to persuade dad to write to him and wished him an early birthday greeting as he expect this letter to take 8 weeks to get to England.

Date

1941-07-02

Temporal Coverage

Language

Format

Two page handwritten letter

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.

Contributor

Identifier

EHudsonJDHudsonP-HE410702

Transcription

Royal Air force. 755052. Sgt. J. D. Hudson.
Camp de Séjour Surveillé
Aumale
Algérie. Afrique du Nord.
2-7-41.
My Dear Mother & Dad,
Yesterday morning I was very pleased to receive your pre-paid cable of June 30th reading:- “Letter received Médéa to-day Dad’s holiday week both well all love” and I sent you a cabled reply immediately as follows:- “Received cable, letters dated June 1st & 8th hope you enjoy holiday well love” In the afternoon I also received two letters, one from you dated June 11th & one from Dorothy dated June 9th. It appears that even Air Mail letters from here take eight weeks to get to England & some of those from England take less than three weeks, anyway I expect that now you will know something of the circumstances at Médéa. I hope that you will both enjoy your holiday week & that the weather will keep fine. I imagine you will both deserve the rest. The pre-paid cables I have received are worth 71 francs. 82 centimes & enable me to send up to eighteen words free – they are very useful for me in my straightened circumstances, & I am very grateful for this cable link between us. You appear to be a little shocked at the p.c. I sent from Kef of the Arab woman. I explained at the time that it was not sent with any intention of being vulgar but that it was very difficult to obtain plain p.cs. & the latter was the only substitute I could find, picture p.cs. being prohibited. For some days the weather has been reasonably cool & quite cloudy but no suggestion by any means of the frost you experienced in the early morning the other day. I cannot remember
[page break]
very clearly when last we had frost but believe it was about New Year. The weather taken all round has not been as hot here as I thought it would be, and from what I have experienced we arrived about the hottest period, but of course by now it is probable I am getting accustomed to it. Also in our walk of life it is not often necessary to dress according to convention & we can put our fingers to our noses if the desert wind blows. Incidentally this desert wind is the most unpleasant – hot, dry & swirls the dust. Mary wrote to me a long time ago telling of the dissolved partnership, & Dorothy’s present letter gives me up to date information concerning her “affair”. When you write to Calverly would you thank her for the letter. I much appreciate these letters – but you know my difficulty in replying from here, much as I should like to write, especially as writing is a pleasant way of passing the time. I am very glad to learn from all your recent letters how happy you are in your new home, and I am so pleased you have the garden. All I am waiting for now is the time when I shall be able to enjoy it with you. It is good to hear that our last holiday holds the happy memories, it does for me as well. I have just begun to wonder why Dad has not written to me. I know he is not very fond of writing. Ask him to have a shot on one occasion, but not to use the typewriter. Is it still working? Now if these letters take eight weeks to get to England I must wish Dad for his birthday. May my wishes arrive in time & may he have a happy birthday. I remember my last belated wishes sent in either my first or second letter from Tunisia. I did not think in those days I should still be here. And now I must say good-bye & good luck. All my love,
Douglas
P.S. Letter just recd from Mary by P of W ordinary post, dated Apl. 22nd.

Collection

Citation

James Douglas Hudson, “Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 28, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/22538.

Item Relations

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