Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Title
Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Description
Lists letters recently received. Wishes his would to them would arrive sooner but hopeful as mail would now go by airmail via the consulate again and would take 6 weeks rather that the current 12-14 weeks. Comments on weather in England. Mentions their current weather and what he wears during the day. Says he will cable them when the parcel of cigarettes arrives but reminds that that as they no longer have shortages, they should not send any more parcels. Red Cross supplies are holding up. Mentions bridge tournament and whist drive,
Creator
Date
1942-03-24
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-HE420324
Transcription
Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt. J.D. Hudson.
c/o Couseel General des Etats Unis.
Rice Michelel.
Algar. Algerie.
24-3-42 Afrique du Nord.
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I was very pleased to receive your letter dated Feb 23rd, No. 19, today. This is the first to arrive since Nos. 17 & 18 came on March 12th. Of the first nineteen letters you have written this year, all except Nos. 11 & 16 have been delivered, which I consider is quite good. I wish mine would arrive as satisfactorily although from now on I am hoping for better results for beginning from today letters from here are to go Air Mail via the Consulate once again. We understand they will take six weeks. If this is so it will be a great improvement on the 12-14 weeks, or never principle, which appears to exist at present. In your letter which came to-day you mention more cold & snow and say it is weeks since you last saw the water of the now frozen lake. I gather you must have experienced one of the coldest winters for years. But now Spring is here and you will be able to look forward to better weather and days in the garden. for the past three weeks the weather here has been hot mid-summer English, probably hotter on occasion. It must be remembered that here the sun is nearly always hot even in the want [sic] winter months and the temperature is largely governed by the wind. For example to-day there is a N.W. wind which is cool. The sky is cloudier and therefore if you get in any position sheltered from the wind an hour’s sunbathing is sufficient. You can lie naked in the sun (now in March) & be too hot. You can walk about fully clothed and be quite comfortable, and you can sit in the rooms and be –
[page break]
well, almost cold. It is during the real summer months where there is only a south breeze, or none at all where it becomes unbearable almost everywhere. I am sorry to hear that Dad has got a cold and hope it will not be persistent. They are beastly things it carry around when the weather is good, but when it is snowing & foggy – I know I am as surprised as you to learn that John is still in the same position. It is truly amazing. As soon as the cigarettes arrive I shall cable, but I expect they will be some time yet. I do wish you to understand that if there is any scarcity of cigarettes – if it means Dad going short – or any difficulty whatsoever in obtaining them – that I do not wish you to make further sacrifices. At the moment we are extremely well off for cigarettes again. The shortage only lasted for a few weeks earlier in the year. Your soap rationing sounds sure [sic]. Have you to do your own laundry with it as well? Since last September we have been issued with 2 ays [sic] & it is impossible to buy any. The Red Cross have sent us muall [sic] supplies fortunately. When I think of those days at Winsly where soap seemed to be everywhere. We used sceend [sic] it wash plates with and all cooking gear. Jenning [sic] & I got knocked out of the Bridge Tournament. The C.O. & a Naval Lt. Commander beat us only to suffer defeat themselves at the next hurdle. All the games were exceptionally close. We had a Whist Drive last night but I did not have my usual luck and the preyes [sic] went elsewhere. Beunos Ares [sic] Red Cross have sent us a few tins of Braised Steak. This and their butter are the luxury items we receive. Well the limitation of space compels me to say good-bye again.
With all my love, thoughts and best wishes.
[underlined] Douglas [/underlined]
c/o Couseel General des Etats Unis.
Rice Michelel.
Algar. Algerie.
24-3-42 Afrique du Nord.
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I was very pleased to receive your letter dated Feb 23rd, No. 19, today. This is the first to arrive since Nos. 17 & 18 came on March 12th. Of the first nineteen letters you have written this year, all except Nos. 11 & 16 have been delivered, which I consider is quite good. I wish mine would arrive as satisfactorily although from now on I am hoping for better results for beginning from today letters from here are to go Air Mail via the Consulate once again. We understand they will take six weeks. If this is so it will be a great improvement on the 12-14 weeks, or never principle, which appears to exist at present. In your letter which came to-day you mention more cold & snow and say it is weeks since you last saw the water of the now frozen lake. I gather you must have experienced one of the coldest winters for years. But now Spring is here and you will be able to look forward to better weather and days in the garden. for the past three weeks the weather here has been hot mid-summer English, probably hotter on occasion. It must be remembered that here the sun is nearly always hot even in the want [sic] winter months and the temperature is largely governed by the wind. For example to-day there is a N.W. wind which is cool. The sky is cloudier and therefore if you get in any position sheltered from the wind an hour’s sunbathing is sufficient. You can lie naked in the sun (now in March) & be too hot. You can walk about fully clothed and be quite comfortable, and you can sit in the rooms and be –
[page break]
well, almost cold. It is during the real summer months where there is only a south breeze, or none at all where it becomes unbearable almost everywhere. I am sorry to hear that Dad has got a cold and hope it will not be persistent. They are beastly things it carry around when the weather is good, but when it is snowing & foggy – I know I am as surprised as you to learn that John is still in the same position. It is truly amazing. As soon as the cigarettes arrive I shall cable, but I expect they will be some time yet. I do wish you to understand that if there is any scarcity of cigarettes – if it means Dad going short – or any difficulty whatsoever in obtaining them – that I do not wish you to make further sacrifices. At the moment we are extremely well off for cigarettes again. The shortage only lasted for a few weeks earlier in the year. Your soap rationing sounds sure [sic]. Have you to do your own laundry with it as well? Since last September we have been issued with 2 ays [sic] & it is impossible to buy any. The Red Cross have sent us muall [sic] supplies fortunately. When I think of those days at Winsly where soap seemed to be everywhere. We used sceend [sic] it wash plates with and all cooking gear. Jenning [sic] & I got knocked out of the Bridge Tournament. The C.O. & a Naval Lt. Commander beat us only to suffer defeat themselves at the next hurdle. All the games were exceptionally close. We had a Whist Drive last night but I did not have my usual luck and the preyes [sic] went elsewhere. Beunos Ares [sic] Red Cross have sent us a few tins of Braised Steak. This and their butter are the luxury items we receive. Well the limitation of space compels me to say good-bye again.
With all my love, thoughts and best wishes.
[underlined] Douglas [/underlined]
Collection
Citation
James Douglas Hudson, “Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 18, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/22643.
Item Relations
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