Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Title
Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Description
Notes he is writing on father's birthday and also to answer two recent letters. Distressed to hear news of several colleagues and notes the whole gang apart from one have now gone. Mentions how close he came to the same fate. Goes on with some family gossip and comment on points they raised in their letters. Mentions weather and sunbathing and suggest that they learn to play bridge.
Creator
Date
1941-09-05
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-HE410905
Transcription
Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt. J. D. Hudson.
c/o. Consul Général des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
5-9-41
My Dear Mother & Dad,
To-day being Dad’s birthday I was going to write to you, but this evening I received two letters from you dated August 10th & 13th so this letter will also serve as a reply as well. I expect that by now you will have received at least one of my letters sending best wishes for Dad’s birthday, I do hope so, but in any case you will understand that I should remember the day. I was very glad to learn that you have now received letters from Médéa & here dated May 15th 21st. 25th & 29th, June 2nd 6th 15th. July 6th 10th, & July 16th 24th & 29th as mentioned (the last three) in your cable of Aug. 26th. The earlier letters also I know you have received, but I cannot account for the peculiar order in which they have arrived. I did not know until to-day the fate of Miss Eckersall’s house, & I was very surprised to hear about it. At the same time I was very distressed to learn about Harry Bowers, Alec Buckley & Norman Giblin, as Noel Hawthorn shared the same fate the entire “Gang” with the possible exception of Norman Morrison, have gone. When I think how nearly I was to sharing the same fate we can count our blessings, & I suppose should be thankful. Some times the pill is nearly too big to swallow even so, but one day we shall probably be more than thankful. I wonder if you realise the part that gets us most. It should not be very difficult. You mention that Dad has a holiday week-end from Sept 5th to the 10th, that is beginning to-day. It occurs at a very opportune time with the birthday as day of kick off, & I
[page break]
shall think about you & hope you will have a good time, even if you should go to Calverley. Yes I understand the problem of black out curtains having restled [sic] with them myself, & I realise the amount of extra work it will entail in addition to that already caused by the renewal etc. But be consoled that there are others with this problem to solve now & this time I do not need to help. I wonder if you understand. The sun still shines on us in North Africa, speaking very literally, & this afternoon I lay painfully for half an hour each side to try not to lose that golden colour I acquired earlier on, but it has not made any difference. When I sunbathe I am like the Invisible Man. I wear sun helmet & sun glasses with a towel wrapped round my neck, the rest of my body is unclothed except for a small pair of underpants rolled up as far as possible. As I am growing a beard again the only (so not quite) part of me that will not be brown will be my face. I intended asking you this before – will you both try & find someone to teach you how to play Bridge? It really is a good game & will provide us with bags of entertainment in evenings to come. As you understand Whist it will be simplified so try & learn the bidding of Contract Bridge using Culbertson’s Conventions. The jackal we had disappeared ages ago but we now have two dogs. RAF & Wimpy. The food problem for dogs here is the same as in England, & they also get meat that is not fit for human consumption. Glad Dad can get his tobacco & cigs. This is where we are lucky too. And now space is limited so I must say good-night. With as always every best wish, my thoughts as ever with you. All my love, Douglas.
c/o. Consul Général des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
5-9-41
My Dear Mother & Dad,
To-day being Dad’s birthday I was going to write to you, but this evening I received two letters from you dated August 10th & 13th so this letter will also serve as a reply as well. I expect that by now you will have received at least one of my letters sending best wishes for Dad’s birthday, I do hope so, but in any case you will understand that I should remember the day. I was very glad to learn that you have now received letters from Médéa & here dated May 15th 21st. 25th & 29th, June 2nd 6th 15th. July 6th 10th, & July 16th 24th & 29th as mentioned (the last three) in your cable of Aug. 26th. The earlier letters also I know you have received, but I cannot account for the peculiar order in which they have arrived. I did not know until to-day the fate of Miss Eckersall’s house, & I was very surprised to hear about it. At the same time I was very distressed to learn about Harry Bowers, Alec Buckley & Norman Giblin, as Noel Hawthorn shared the same fate the entire “Gang” with the possible exception of Norman Morrison, have gone. When I think how nearly I was to sharing the same fate we can count our blessings, & I suppose should be thankful. Some times the pill is nearly too big to swallow even so, but one day we shall probably be more than thankful. I wonder if you realise the part that gets us most. It should not be very difficult. You mention that Dad has a holiday week-end from Sept 5th to the 10th, that is beginning to-day. It occurs at a very opportune time with the birthday as day of kick off, & I
[page break]
shall think about you & hope you will have a good time, even if you should go to Calverley. Yes I understand the problem of black out curtains having restled [sic] with them myself, & I realise the amount of extra work it will entail in addition to that already caused by the renewal etc. But be consoled that there are others with this problem to solve now & this time I do not need to help. I wonder if you understand. The sun still shines on us in North Africa, speaking very literally, & this afternoon I lay painfully for half an hour each side to try not to lose that golden colour I acquired earlier on, but it has not made any difference. When I sunbathe I am like the Invisible Man. I wear sun helmet & sun glasses with a towel wrapped round my neck, the rest of my body is unclothed except for a small pair of underpants rolled up as far as possible. As I am growing a beard again the only (so not quite) part of me that will not be brown will be my face. I intended asking you this before – will you both try & find someone to teach you how to play Bridge? It really is a good game & will provide us with bags of entertainment in evenings to come. As you understand Whist it will be simplified so try & learn the bidding of Contract Bridge using Culbertson’s Conventions. The jackal we had disappeared ages ago but we now have two dogs. RAF & Wimpy. The food problem for dogs here is the same as in England, & they also get meat that is not fit for human consumption. Glad Dad can get his tobacco & cigs. This is where we are lucky too. And now space is limited so I must say good-night. With as always every best wish, my thoughts as ever with you. All my love, Douglas.
Collection
Citation
James Douglas Hudson, “Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed June 20, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/22556.
Item Relations
This item has no relations.