Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Title
Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Description
Writes that he is enclosing a picture postcard of Laghouat to give them an idea of surrounds. Mentions new four man room which doubles as orderly room and working on camp newspaper. Catches up with mail received. Writes of weather being cooler and some rain. Discusses recent cables and is unsure of some content regarding deferred delivery of Red Cross parcel they are sending. Mentions that relatives volunteer to help find parcel contents most importantly soap, towels and footwear. Concludes with good wishes to family.
Creator
Date
1942-05-05
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-HE420505
Transcription
Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt. J. D. Hudson.
c/o. Consul Général des États Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
5-5-42.
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I am trying to get this letter to you today and at the same time I am sending a ‘photo, or more correctly a picture post card of Lagbauat, showing the Arab quarter, Mosque, palm trees and outlying desert, to try and give you an idea of the surroundings. It is five days since I wrote to you and since my last letter I have been very busy, because as I explained previously four of us now share a room which acts as living quarters and orderly room. With the recent inundation of new arrivals we have been quite occupied. It might sound strange to hear that we are busy in a camp of this description, well no matter how strange it may be, the time passes less monotonously this way. We have not had a chance to get on with our publication of the Camp Echo for a month. The last two letters I received from you were Nos. 28 & 30 dated March 22nd and 28th; these arrived here on April 25th. Of the first 30 letters you have written this year the only ones not to arrive are Nos 11, 22, 27 & 29. I expect the last two will come in the next batch. The weather has been considerably cooler for about three weeks and there has been a fairly pleasant breeze blowing, and quite a lot of cloud. On Sunday we had quite a heavy rainfall, which came as a surprise after a completely dry spell since January. I am annoyed, but agreeably so, to discover the hot weather has not yet arrived, but I imagine that by the time this letter reaches you we shall be in
[page break]
the middle of the scorching heat. In my [inserted] next to [/inserted] last cable I asked you to send via the Red Cross, soap socks and towels and in your reply you said “regret deferred delivery” I wonder if this means that you had prepared a parcel which had to await despatch from the Red Cross for some reason. However, in my last letter I confirmed what I also sent in my last cabled message and that was the suggestion that you should ask relations to cooperate in getting a parcel of clothes together including footwear if possible, size 7. As they have all volunteered in the past to send things I required, their present help would be very useful. Thirty parcels of clothes arrived here the other day, all despatched from London by the Red Cross on Dec. 12th including soap toilet requisites and all manner of clothing. I feel that soap, towels & footwear are the most essential requirements, being the most difficult to obtain locally. Well, Mother & Dad I keep on thinking about you both, my mind is very very active, and I do hope everything will go well with you until we meet again, and that your path of life will be as smooth as can be expected. Don’t worry about me, look after yourselves and remember I am going all out to look after myself. We shall have a fountain of knowledge gained through this bitter experience, and I feel we shall all benefit in the end. I realise now, just how little I did know of the things that mattred [sic] in life when I was at home, and how unappreciative I was of all your kindnesses. I do appreciate them now and I thank you for the clear approach I have gained from you both. So until that great day of joyous reunion, I send you both as ever all my love thoughts and best wishes. [underlined] Douglas {/underlined].
c/o. Consul Général des États Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
5-5-42.
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I am trying to get this letter to you today and at the same time I am sending a ‘photo, or more correctly a picture post card of Lagbauat, showing the Arab quarter, Mosque, palm trees and outlying desert, to try and give you an idea of the surroundings. It is five days since I wrote to you and since my last letter I have been very busy, because as I explained previously four of us now share a room which acts as living quarters and orderly room. With the recent inundation of new arrivals we have been quite occupied. It might sound strange to hear that we are busy in a camp of this description, well no matter how strange it may be, the time passes less monotonously this way. We have not had a chance to get on with our publication of the Camp Echo for a month. The last two letters I received from you were Nos. 28 & 30 dated March 22nd and 28th; these arrived here on April 25th. Of the first 30 letters you have written this year the only ones not to arrive are Nos 11, 22, 27 & 29. I expect the last two will come in the next batch. The weather has been considerably cooler for about three weeks and there has been a fairly pleasant breeze blowing, and quite a lot of cloud. On Sunday we had quite a heavy rainfall, which came as a surprise after a completely dry spell since January. I am annoyed, but agreeably so, to discover the hot weather has not yet arrived, but I imagine that by the time this letter reaches you we shall be in
[page break]
the middle of the scorching heat. In my [inserted] next to [/inserted] last cable I asked you to send via the Red Cross, soap socks and towels and in your reply you said “regret deferred delivery” I wonder if this means that you had prepared a parcel which had to await despatch from the Red Cross for some reason. However, in my last letter I confirmed what I also sent in my last cabled message and that was the suggestion that you should ask relations to cooperate in getting a parcel of clothes together including footwear if possible, size 7. As they have all volunteered in the past to send things I required, their present help would be very useful. Thirty parcels of clothes arrived here the other day, all despatched from London by the Red Cross on Dec. 12th including soap toilet requisites and all manner of clothing. I feel that soap, towels & footwear are the most essential requirements, being the most difficult to obtain locally. Well, Mother & Dad I keep on thinking about you both, my mind is very very active, and I do hope everything will go well with you until we meet again, and that your path of life will be as smooth as can be expected. Don’t worry about me, look after yourselves and remember I am going all out to look after myself. We shall have a fountain of knowledge gained through this bitter experience, and I feel we shall all benefit in the end. I realise now, just how little I did know of the things that mattred [sic] in life when I was at home, and how unappreciative I was of all your kindnesses. I do appreciate them now and I thank you for the clear approach I have gained from you both. So until that great day of joyous reunion, I send you both as ever 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 July 22, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/22674.
Item Relations
This item has no relations.