Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Title
Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Description
Catches up on mail sent and received and reiterates that prepaid reply cables are good as he cannot afford to pay for them himself. Mentions previous camp and sending airmail without stamps assuming they would get through as prisoner of war mail. Says he is now putting stamps on all letters. Comments on time it takes to get letters back and forth and mentions that cables are always good and quick. Writes that he made jam that day and mentions some of his other activities.
Creator
Date
1941-07-10
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.
Contributor
Identifier
EHudsonJDHudsonP-HE410710
Transcription
755052 Sgt. J. D. Hudson.
c/o. Consul des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Algiers. Afrique du Nord.
10-7-41
My Dear Mother & Dad,
Since I wrote to you last on Sunday night I have received your letter dated June 17th acknowledging my cable dated June 15th. Because I asked you to cable a prepaid reply it appears that you are wondering if I have been receiving your cables regularly. As far as I can tell I have received them all, & it was as a result of an earlier letter of yours suggesting a prepaid reply that I was prompted to wire you as I did. A prepaid reply is a great help to me because I cannot afford much if any cabling in the ordinary way. My previous letters will have explained our transference here from Médéa, under the conditions of the red regime. We are now in our sixth week at this place. When I was at Kef I sent many letters to you by Air Mail unstamped under the impression that they went through the French mail, by P. of W. post & I am convinced you should not have had anything to pay. As for those envelopes which arrived stamped I do not know who was responsible. I did not start stamping my envelopes until I wrote from Médéa, that is on April 25th, but since there I have stamped all my mail. I realise how slow it is getting to England and I cannot understand why when your letters are comparatively quick in arriving. However, the fact that you are receiving letters is some
[page break]
consolation & then cables always provide a quick link. As I have written approximately twice a week since the end of April, the time should have arrived when you will start to receive a regular number of letters. It is rather difficult writing to you to-night, the table space is occupied & I am writing on the bed. I never was a particularly good writer under the most favourable conditions. I made some more jam to-day, four of us really amalgamated. This time gooseberries which we bought cheaply & green plums which we saved from our rations. The consistency, I think that is the word, of the jam was excellent but we had to find sachorine [sic] to sweeten it as we had not allowed enough grape syrup. The way we compare our single recipes here you would think we were part of a girls cookery class sometimes. Whoever would have dreamed of this. I told you about the spelling Bee, the result of which entitled me to seventy (70) cigarettes, the N.C.O. side beating the Officers. We had a Mock Trial last night, I took part on the Prosecuting Counsel but the affair was not the success it was hoped. Riddick did an excellent job of work as Counsel for the Defence. Tony was a handwriting expert? No decision was arrived at, the [inserted] cross [/inserted] examination got too long drawn out. Well I must leave you now until next letter. I am so glad you both have your garden as that means a lot I know. And so good-night, with every best wish for Dad’s birthday, & for a happier future. All my love,
Douglas.
[inserted] Eglise Anglaise [/inserted]
c/o. Consul des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Algiers. Afrique du Nord.
10-7-41
My Dear Mother & Dad,
Since I wrote to you last on Sunday night I have received your letter dated June 17th acknowledging my cable dated June 15th. Because I asked you to cable a prepaid reply it appears that you are wondering if I have been receiving your cables regularly. As far as I can tell I have received them all, & it was as a result of an earlier letter of yours suggesting a prepaid reply that I was prompted to wire you as I did. A prepaid reply is a great help to me because I cannot afford much if any cabling in the ordinary way. My previous letters will have explained our transference here from Médéa, under the conditions of the red regime. We are now in our sixth week at this place. When I was at Kef I sent many letters to you by Air Mail unstamped under the impression that they went through the French mail, by P. of W. post & I am convinced you should not have had anything to pay. As for those envelopes which arrived stamped I do not know who was responsible. I did not start stamping my envelopes until I wrote from Médéa, that is on April 25th, but since there I have stamped all my mail. I realise how slow it is getting to England and I cannot understand why when your letters are comparatively quick in arriving. However, the fact that you are receiving letters is some
[page break]
consolation & then cables always provide a quick link. As I have written approximately twice a week since the end of April, the time should have arrived when you will start to receive a regular number of letters. It is rather difficult writing to you to-night, the table space is occupied & I am writing on the bed. I never was a particularly good writer under the most favourable conditions. I made some more jam to-day, four of us really amalgamated. This time gooseberries which we bought cheaply & green plums which we saved from our rations. The consistency, I think that is the word, of the jam was excellent but we had to find sachorine [sic] to sweeten it as we had not allowed enough grape syrup. The way we compare our single recipes here you would think we were part of a girls cookery class sometimes. Whoever would have dreamed of this. I told you about the spelling Bee, the result of which entitled me to seventy (70) cigarettes, the N.C.O. side beating the Officers. We had a Mock Trial last night, I took part on the Prosecuting Counsel but the affair was not the success it was hoped. Riddick did an excellent job of work as Counsel for the Defence. Tony was a handwriting expert? No decision was arrived at, the [inserted] cross [/inserted] examination got too long drawn out. Well I must leave you now until next letter. I am so glad you both have your garden as that means a lot I know. And so good-night, with every best wish for Dad’s birthday, & for a happier future. All my love,
Douglas.
[inserted] Eglise Anglaise [/inserted]
Collection
Citation
James Douglas Hudson, “Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed May 7, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/22540.
Item Relations
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