Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Title
Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Description
Catches up with mail received and sent including cable. Discusses problems with French post which caused delay with one of his cables to them. Again suggests that they buy a radio as his Christmas and mother's birthday present to them, he was sure his account would stand the strain. Also sends Christmas greeting as not sure what mail might get through. Discusses mail received and sent again and does not know why letters not getting through. Thankful that cable still work. Repeats news that was in previous letters and says he is off for a walk shortly.
Creator
Date
1941-11-25
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-HE411125
Transcription
Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt. J. D. Hudson.
c/o. Consul Général des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
25-11-41.
My Dear Mother & Dad,
My last letter was written to you on Nov. 21st. On Nov. 23rd. I was very pleased indeed to receive your cable of the 22nd reading:- “Delighted cable seventeenth still await further news all love” to which I replied next day as follows:- “Delighted cable twentysecond continuing writing buy yourselves new radiogram as Christmas present from me all love wishes” The cable which you refer to as seventeenth was originally sent from here on the 11th, but I was advised from Berne that it could not be sent any further because the address could not be traced. Time was wasted accordingly in advising the postal authorities that the address was correct etc. hence the delay for which I am very sorry as I realise how you will have been wondering. I suggested in three letters that you should buy a new radiogram and accept it as a Christmas cum Mother’s birthday present from me. I am sure my account will stand the strain, and I believe from some of your letters in the past that the present set has been giving a certain amount of trouble and accordingly it would please me greatly for you to get a new one from me as a present. As letters are so uncertain I thought it a good idea to wire so that you could do something in time for Christmas. The last letter I received from you was on November 10th dated October 21st. together with two others from you of earlier dates and one from Dorothy. Since then I have not had any further letters from you, so the delay would appear to be
[page break]
working both ways now. Again I say thank goodness that we are still able to cable. I cannot offer any explanation why my letters of the past three or four months are not reaching you. I might have my own ideas, but they might be wrong. By just what route they are supposed to go now I cannot say. I have the opportunity to put Air Mail on the envelope but whether that will make any difference I cannot say either. There is very little to write to you about. I have mentioned so many times that parcels have arrived from the Red X for which we are always thankful. There is no need to keep repeating that my thoughts are always with you at home, and that I am constantly wondering how you are getting along. Winter will be with you now. I don’t think there is much of that here. It gets cool in the evenings, but up to now provided one keeps in the sun during the day time it is warm enough. This place gets unbearably hot in the summer time I am told, so hope to God I am not here then. Nowadays it gets increasingly difficult trying to forecast from events the possible outcome. It is not an easy war to follow. I am going for a walk in a few minutes so I shall just have sufficient time to finish this letter beforehand. We don’t go on many walks, but it is not a real tragedy as there is nothing much but desert all around. This letter will arrive too late for Christmas I fear but nevertheless my thoughts will be in the right place when the time arrives. There is just a sporting chance it might get to you in time for Mother’s birthday. In any case I send my very best wishes for both events. As always, all my love I send to you both [deleted] with [/deleted], and hope that good luck will be with you in the year 1942.
Douglas
c/o. Consul Général des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
25-11-41.
My Dear Mother & Dad,
My last letter was written to you on Nov. 21st. On Nov. 23rd. I was very pleased indeed to receive your cable of the 22nd reading:- “Delighted cable seventeenth still await further news all love” to which I replied next day as follows:- “Delighted cable twentysecond continuing writing buy yourselves new radiogram as Christmas present from me all love wishes” The cable which you refer to as seventeenth was originally sent from here on the 11th, but I was advised from Berne that it could not be sent any further because the address could not be traced. Time was wasted accordingly in advising the postal authorities that the address was correct etc. hence the delay for which I am very sorry as I realise how you will have been wondering. I suggested in three letters that you should buy a new radiogram and accept it as a Christmas cum Mother’s birthday present from me. I am sure my account will stand the strain, and I believe from some of your letters in the past that the present set has been giving a certain amount of trouble and accordingly it would please me greatly for you to get a new one from me as a present. As letters are so uncertain I thought it a good idea to wire so that you could do something in time for Christmas. The last letter I received from you was on November 10th dated October 21st. together with two others from you of earlier dates and one from Dorothy. Since then I have not had any further letters from you, so the delay would appear to be
[page break]
working both ways now. Again I say thank goodness that we are still able to cable. I cannot offer any explanation why my letters of the past three or four months are not reaching you. I might have my own ideas, but they might be wrong. By just what route they are supposed to go now I cannot say. I have the opportunity to put Air Mail on the envelope but whether that will make any difference I cannot say either. There is very little to write to you about. I have mentioned so many times that parcels have arrived from the Red X for which we are always thankful. There is no need to keep repeating that my thoughts are always with you at home, and that I am constantly wondering how you are getting along. Winter will be with you now. I don’t think there is much of that here. It gets cool in the evenings, but up to now provided one keeps in the sun during the day time it is warm enough. This place gets unbearably hot in the summer time I am told, so hope to God I am not here then. Nowadays it gets increasingly difficult trying to forecast from events the possible outcome. It is not an easy war to follow. I am going for a walk in a few minutes so I shall just have sufficient time to finish this letter beforehand. We don’t go on many walks, but it is not a real tragedy as there is nothing much but desert all around. This letter will arrive too late for Christmas I fear but nevertheless my thoughts will be in the right place when the time arrives. There is just a sporting chance it might get to you in time for Mother’s birthday. In any case I send my very best wishes for both events. As always, all my love I send to you both [deleted] with [/deleted], and hope that good luck will be with you in the year 1942.
Douglas
Collection
Citation
James Douglas Hudson, “Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed November 15, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/22574.
Item Relations
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