Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents

Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents

Notes he has not received any mail since he last wrote. He writes that there is a lot of repetition in his letters as he is not sure which will get through. Writes of camp newspaper, 32 pages which is published fortnightly. Mentions an article he wrote called sartorial satire about clothing. Comments that spring has arrived at Laghouat and it was now warm enough to sunbathe but wondered what it would be like in July and August. Mentions doing PT and that he was waiting for a parcel from them wondering how long it would take.

1942-03-11

Two page handwritten letter

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EHudsonJDHudsonP-HE420311

Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt. J. D. Hudson
c/o Consul Gereral des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algerie.
Afrique du Nord.

11-3-42.

My Dear Mother & Dad,
I have not received any more letters from you since I wrote on the 8th. Out of the first fifteen you have written, that is up to Feb. 9th, the only ones which have not arrived as yet are Nos. 8, 11 & 14. I don’t think we can grumble at this. No. 14 is not much overdue and may arrive in the next batch. Nos. 8 & 11 are probably wandering around Germany & may arrive in another war[?] this time. I have not very much to say to you to-day. In most of my letters there is a lot of repetition in case some get lost on their way to you. We have just finished this fortnight’s issue of the “Camp Echo” (we are publishing it fortnightly now instead of weekly) and I am quite satisfied that it is the last one produced up to date. 32 pages in all, of articles, poems, drawings of cathedrals and cartoons, and a photo page of camp life. It was rather strange that your letter of Feb. 8th should include the Daily Mail cartoon of the clothing store “clerical[?] error”. I had written one article for the “Echo” which I called “Sortorial[?] Satire” dealing facetiously with the camp clothing system, [deleted] of [/deleted] & the styles of British Military [indecipherable word] clothes. Our article reproduced the D.M. cartoon at the foot of my second page and thereby added to the glamour. I do wish I could send you a copy of this journal[?]. We produce two [deleted] weekly [/deleted] [inserted] fortnightly [/inserted] (Randell edited & myself printing press) The internal[?] demand for copies as souvenirs is very great. Perhaps when we get back to England the whole series will be published in

[page break]

The form of one big book as the principle of the B.O.P. Maybe a few slight modifications will be necessary if it [deleted one word] [inserted] is [/inserted intended for public exhibition. Spring is here at Laghauat[?], or mid-summer as far as England is concerned. It is warm enough to sunbathe from 9 am until 5 pm and just after mid-day it is hot enough to warrant care being taken. This change of temperature has been rather sudden. You can imagine the weather, not a cloud in the sky from sunrise at 7 am until sunset at 6 pm, then a starlight night until the sun rises again next day. This is very pleasant because there are no flies, and the old yellow, remains of last year’s tan, is beginning to assume a darker shade. Pickles had a letter from his sister which he showed me the other day. Mrs Hudson is a very nice person the letter ran, and from its tone I gather that Miss Pickles had really enjoyed her visits to 191. Eric seemed very [indecipherable word] about it. We have been doing P.T. for just over a week in the afternoons, but on account of the present heat we have changed the programme to 7.30 am. It is difficult to decide whether to be in favour or not. One of our officers received a few Players by Air Mail yesterday. It appears rather strange but as you remark probably just good luck. However, I am waiting for the ones you sent by Ordinary Mail & wonder how long they will take to arrive. Our cigarette shortage problem has been settled fortunately, and we are also getting small supplies from the Red Cross. I will say cheerio for the present and prepare for a little sun-bathing. Shorts, sun helmet & glasses, [inserted] in [/inserted] other words the human mushroom. All my love and thoughts as ever.
Douglas.