Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents

Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents

Reports arrival of mail and notes all sent up to 4 February apart from one had now arrived. Glad his letters had also gotten to them. Writes about books he is reading. Mentions correspondence with family of Eric Pickles a navy man in the camp. Discusses photographs and talks a little about himself. Was surprised at cost of air mail parcel they tried to send and says not to bother in future as it was too much and the supply situation was now improved, with less shortages, from when he originally requested they send him parcels. Mentions the weather and talks of their diet and that he was enclosing photographs.

1942-02-26

Two page handwritten letter

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EHudsonJDHudsonP-HE420226

Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt. J.D. Hudson.

℅. Consul Général des États Unis.

Rue Michelet.

Alger. Algérie

26-2-42. Afrique du Nord.

My Dear Mother & Dad,

I was very pleased to receive four letters from you to-day and one from Dorothy. Your letters were dated as follows :- Jan. 10th & 28th, Feb. 2nd & 4th and Dorothy’s Jan. 26th. The numbers of your letters were 4; 28th not marked but presumably 10; 12 & 13. This means that of the thirteen letters you have written this year, ie, up to Feb. 4th, all have been received except No. 8, which is not bad going. I am glad you have received ten letters from Laghouat, latest November 25th, at last you must now [sic] something about my present situation. I am glad that Mrs. Baggaley wrote to you at Christmas and I thank her for her wishes. How I should like to be able to spend a fortnight there, and I hope the time will arrive where we shall be able to carry out that wish again. The last two books I read were “Malice of Men” by Warwick Deeping and “Sylvia Scarlett” by Compton MacKenzie. At present I am reading “Twenty years a-growing” by Maurice O’Sullivan. Translated from the original Irish. I have not read Farnol’s “John o’the Green” and fear it is not in our “library”. I always appreciated his books and have read two or three during my sojourn in North Africa. The book Mrs. Clayton sent has not arrived yet. Incidentally, I wrote another letter to John about three days ago. I gave you the addresses of three of Eric Pickles relatives, but it appears that a letter he wrote to his sister arrived first. I naturally don’t know anything about his people, but Eric is a very intelligent “lad” with a lot of experience, because he has done about twelve years service with the Navy. However, I note

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your remarks. I don’t know which photo she showed you but I gather it would be a group picture (I have since forwarded one to you) taken when I had a “goatee”. I explained at the time that I appeared very thin with an elongated face due to the beard which appeared on my chin. I can assure you that I am not going thin bodily, on the contrary, and I should imagine that if I were to meet you now you would think I had toughened up quite a bit. I was very touched to hear about the parcel you were trying to send via Air Mail, but sorry to hear of the great inconvenience at appears to cause. Where I learned that 12/5d was required as postage I was sorry I ever made the request. I wish to insist most firmly, that unless something can be done in future to reduce this fee, you do not trouble to send any thing else. As the Red Cross have been fairly constant with their supplies of tea, chocolate and cigarettes recently the shortage has practically ceased to exist, and as these articles are so necessary for you under the rationing emergencies, I would rather you kept these. If you were to see me [deleted] to [/deleted] now - weather beaten as a result of the January & February winds - you would think I was well looked after. The diet here - granted a war time diet - is very different in character from what I have been used to, but provided we can cope with vegetables and rice and macaroni body & soul remain together. The Red Cross is never far behind. Enclosed a photo, in dismal mood and [inserted] with [/inserted] slightly unshaven chin, but compensated for by quantities of wavy hair. I bet it will make Dad a bit envious. Note the position of the belt fastened in peg number 1. I’ll send these photos along as and where they are taken. This was taken just after the New Year when it was very cold. It is possible to get extra prints from these if you require them. The negative is not necessary. Well, goodbye until next letter. All my love and thoughts for you both. Keep mailing and chins up. Douglas.