Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents

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Title

Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents

Description

Catches up with mail received and notes two of sequence have still not arrived. Pleased that they now have his letters written up to the end of January. Writes that there was no need now to send parcels as regular Red Cross parcels were now arriving. In addition, there was the prohibitive costs of air mail and the fact that some of the items requested were rationed anyway. He would still welcome soap. He was glad to get his cigarette lighter back from repair in Algiers as this was one of his few personal possessions. There was a lack of petrol so he was using mentholated spirit as fuel. Mentions production of camp newspaper. Comments on their bad winter as well as his own weather.

Date

1942-03-01

Temporal Coverage

Language

Format

Two page handwritten letter and envelope

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-HE420301

Transcription

[Front of envelope]

[PAR AVION]

[3 postmarks]

[postage stamp]

[underlined] JUSQU A MARSEILLES. [/underlined]

F.M.

[inserted] March 1st/42 [/inserted]

MR. & MRS. H.E. HUDSON.

191 HALIFAX ROAD.

NELSON.

LANCASHIRE.

ANGLETERRE.

CONTROLÉ CONTROLÉ

[page break]

[rear of envelope]

CONTROLÉ CONTROLÉ

[postmark]

FROM. SGT. J.D. HUDSON. 755052

BRITISH INTERNED AIRMAN

CAMP DES INTERNÉS BRITANNIQUES.

LAGHOUAT.

ALGÉRIE.

AFRIQUE DU NORD.

[page break]

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

℅. Consul Général des États Unis.

Rue Michelet.

Alger. Algérie.

1-3-42. Afrique du Nord.

My Dear Mother & Dad,

I wrote to you three days ago acknowledging receipt of four of your letters numbers 4, 10, 12, & 13 dated Jan. 10th 28th, Feb. 2nd & 4th, also one from Dorothy dated Jan. 26th. The only letters I have not received from you are numbers 8 & 11 out of the first thirteen written. In my last letter I made a mistake and said I had received all except number 8. This is not at all bad going. I hope you will continue to receive the mail from me more regularly and I am pleased that up to the end of January two letters from Laghouat reached you. I do appreciate the letters I receive from Mary & Dorothy and as they are very regular writers I shall send replies in the near future to them both. It is a fortnight since your last telegram arrived so I expect the next one any time now. As I said in my last two letters I think it very kind of you to send me a parcel by Air Mail and I thank you very much. However, [inserted] Red Cross [/inserted] supplies of tea and English cigarettes are now arriving quite regularly, and as the situation has improved regarding the purchasing of Algerian cigarettes I can say quite frankly at the moment that there is no scarcity in these two items. As you appear to be rationed in these things and as I appreciate the value they are to you, also taking into consideration the prohibitive Air Mail fee of postage, I don’t consider it worth while the trouble of sending either of these items in future. What I should still welcome would be soap & perhaps a few late books. I was very pleased to get my petrol lighter back from Alger this week.

[page break]

• Pause to light cigarette - It (the one you bought me for Christmas in 1935) had been in Alger since Padre Cummins visit over nine weeks ago, undergoing repairs, and thanks to this gentleman is in working order again. I treasure my lighter very dearly because it is one of the few personal belongings I still retain. Petrol is practically non existent & I began using Eau de Cologne. This was not very successful, but I managed to get some methylated spirits and am now enjoying better results. I am reading Warwick Deeping’s “Exile” at the moment and find it good. During the days when the “Camp Echo” goes to press I don’t get much time for reading. Recently we decided to publish it once a fortnight it allows more time and we can produce 32 pages fairly easily. I have written a short article (400 words) for next fortnights issue which I have decided to call “Sartorial Satire”. The varied “fashions” of [one indecipherable word] dress prompted this. Its a lot nonsense which can only be appreciated by those in our midst acquainted with the conditions. You appear to have experienced another severe winter with lots of snow. I believe it has been a fairly rough season in this part of the world - although I am not in a position to judge. Laghouat I am told has had it wetter than usual with about three days rain all told. The nights still remain very chilly and the day temperature has been low during the last few days. It was warmer at Kup. during the corresponding period last year. In spite of the miles that separate us my thoughts are always with you both at home. With the passing of time they seem to be even more so - if possible. This is one channel where my memory does not become dim. I cannot say how much I am pining for the day we shall be together again. Being confined is about one of the worst things that can happen to anybody. I often think of “Chatterer the Red Squirrel”. Well goodbye until next letter. All my love & best wishes. Douglas.

Collection

Citation

James Douglas Hudson, “Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents ,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 28, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/22618.

Item Relations

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