Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Title
Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Description
Still waiting for their next letter and catalogues recent mail and cables sent and received. Writes that he hoped they had a good day on their wedding anniversary and his thought were with them. Expresses his delight again at the photographs they sent him and explained that he had tried to get some taken of him but they did not turn out well due to brightness of light. He explained he was sending the best two and describes what is in them. Mentions having impressive weather and that there was now no green due to lack of rain. Wonders what they are doing and concludes with general banter.
Creator
Date
1941-08-08
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Three 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-HE410808
Transcription
Royal Air Force. Sgt. J. D. Hudson. 755052.
c/o. Consul Général des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
8-8-41
My dear Mother & Dad,
It is five or six days since I last wrote to you. Longer than usual, but I have been waiting each day for a letter from you – with no luck. To-day is Friday, & it is two weeks last Wednesday since your letter of July 6th arrived, & two weeks last Sunday since yours of July 8th got here. I cannot understand the reason of the hold up. However, I was very glad indeed to receive your pre-paid cable on the 3rd reading:- “Welcome letter [indecipherable word] Friday, special thoughts for you Monday, all love.” to which I replied next day:- “Fourth prepaid cable received also cable from EW7 best wishes wedding anniversary love to all” The cable which I was also so pleased to receive from EW7 sent “Greetings best wishes love” & my reply was intended more or less as a joint reply. I do hope this will have got through. You do not mention if my previous cable in reply to yours of July 12th arrived, but as there was nothing stated to the contrary I suppose it did. I do hope you had a good time on the day of your 26th wedding anniversary, my thoughts were constantly with you, & with you all during what much have been August Bank Holiday weekend in England – not observed in any way here.
As I mentioned before I was really delighted to receive
[page break]
[underlined] 2. [/underlined]
two lots of photographs of the “Old Lady & Old Gentleman” taken down the garden. These mean such a lot these days when we are so far apart. Well I was enthusiastic enough to have practically a roll of films taken of myself with Tony & two other chaps here but the results turned out very badly & only two are even half suitable for sending. The light here is so bright & by trying to find a shady spot our efforts were very unsuccessful. However, as a matter of interest I am sending two along – the one of [deleted] me [indecipherable word] [/deleted] [inserted] the two of us [/inserted] in full dress as always worn these days. The other with Tony & one of the Officers a dour Scotch Lad & 6 feet tall. Tony is 5 ft 11 so that accounts for my rather diminutive appearance. As I say the photos are not good but they just show that I am still here & are perhaps better than nothing at all. We are going to try again soon & shall hope for better results. The snag is that the expense is comparatively a large one. (for our slender purses.)
I am rather pushed for news in my letters just at present, not having received any recent mail from you to reply to. We have had some rather oppressive weather of late. Fortunately it has been rather cooler during the nights. I find the afternoons the most trying. Then it is hottest & the flies are a menace. Luckily they go to bed about 7 pm. I don’t expect it will get any hotter now; it will probably remain like this for another month or so & then gradually get cooler. The green of the country has disappeared entirely except for the trees. Since we came to Aumale it has only rained
[page break]
[underlined] 3. [/underlined]
twice, & at those times not for long. About all we do in the way of exercise these days is half an hour early morning P.T. & later the usual walk. I wonder what you are both doing all this time. Is Dad busy. I hope he is from the business point of view. I envy you your evenings which I imagine you will spend in the garden. I am so glad to learn that you are settled in your new house & that you have a pleasant garden. I realise just how much the garden will mean to you, especially during these times.
Referring to the photos again. Although they are not clear, are they sufficiently clear for you to distinguish whether I am a “chubby infant” or not. Several people refer to me as being chubby & I cannot exactly see it. I have developed a certain amount of chubbiness, may be, but nothing untoward. I still retain a very thin face, that simple refuses to alter. The little note written on the back of the photos is just asking the French Censor to send the photos along to you if possible, & if not to return them to me.
Well Mother & Dad this has probably not been a very interesting letter, but as I said I am eagerly awaiting your news. So for the present good-bye, & good luck. With every best wish – still for Dad’s birthday if it is not too late.
All my love
Douglas
c/o. Consul Général des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
8-8-41
My dear Mother & Dad,
It is five or six days since I last wrote to you. Longer than usual, but I have been waiting each day for a letter from you – with no luck. To-day is Friday, & it is two weeks last Wednesday since your letter of July 6th arrived, & two weeks last Sunday since yours of July 8th got here. I cannot understand the reason of the hold up. However, I was very glad indeed to receive your pre-paid cable on the 3rd reading:- “Welcome letter [indecipherable word] Friday, special thoughts for you Monday, all love.” to which I replied next day:- “Fourth prepaid cable received also cable from EW7 best wishes wedding anniversary love to all” The cable which I was also so pleased to receive from EW7 sent “Greetings best wishes love” & my reply was intended more or less as a joint reply. I do hope this will have got through. You do not mention if my previous cable in reply to yours of July 12th arrived, but as there was nothing stated to the contrary I suppose it did. I do hope you had a good time on the day of your 26th wedding anniversary, my thoughts were constantly with you, & with you all during what much have been August Bank Holiday weekend in England – not observed in any way here.
As I mentioned before I was really delighted to receive
[page break]
[underlined] 2. [/underlined]
two lots of photographs of the “Old Lady & Old Gentleman” taken down the garden. These mean such a lot these days when we are so far apart. Well I was enthusiastic enough to have practically a roll of films taken of myself with Tony & two other chaps here but the results turned out very badly & only two are even half suitable for sending. The light here is so bright & by trying to find a shady spot our efforts were very unsuccessful. However, as a matter of interest I am sending two along – the one of [deleted] me [indecipherable word] [/deleted] [inserted] the two of us [/inserted] in full dress as always worn these days. The other with Tony & one of the Officers a dour Scotch Lad & 6 feet tall. Tony is 5 ft 11 so that accounts for my rather diminutive appearance. As I say the photos are not good but they just show that I am still here & are perhaps better than nothing at all. We are going to try again soon & shall hope for better results. The snag is that the expense is comparatively a large one. (for our slender purses.)
I am rather pushed for news in my letters just at present, not having received any recent mail from you to reply to. We have had some rather oppressive weather of late. Fortunately it has been rather cooler during the nights. I find the afternoons the most trying. Then it is hottest & the flies are a menace. Luckily they go to bed about 7 pm. I don’t expect it will get any hotter now; it will probably remain like this for another month or so & then gradually get cooler. The green of the country has disappeared entirely except for the trees. Since we came to Aumale it has only rained
[page break]
[underlined] 3. [/underlined]
twice, & at those times not for long. About all we do in the way of exercise these days is half an hour early morning P.T. & later the usual walk. I wonder what you are both doing all this time. Is Dad busy. I hope he is from the business point of view. I envy you your evenings which I imagine you will spend in the garden. I am so glad to learn that you are settled in your new house & that you have a pleasant garden. I realise just how much the garden will mean to you, especially during these times.
Referring to the photos again. Although they are not clear, are they sufficiently clear for you to distinguish whether I am a “chubby infant” or not. Several people refer to me as being chubby & I cannot exactly see it. I have developed a certain amount of chubbiness, may be, but nothing untoward. I still retain a very thin face, that simple refuses to alter. The little note written on the back of the photos is just asking the French Censor to send the photos along to you if possible, & if not to return them to me.
Well Mother & Dad this has probably not been a very interesting letter, but as I said I am eagerly awaiting your news. So for the present good-bye, & good luck. With every best wish – still for Dad’s birthday if it is not too late.
All my love
Douglas
Collection
Citation
James Douglas Hudson, “Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 26, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/22551.
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