Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Title
Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Description
Reports arrival of latest mail and comments on news from home. Writes that depression is difficult to shake off sometimes as everything in camp is organised with same routine day after day and nothing new. Writes of the weather at Laghouat. Hopes that they will all be together again soon. More comment on other news from home and thanks them about soap being donated by family/friends. Says eagerly awaiting arrival of parcels with soap, towels cigarettes and book..
Creator
Date
1942-05-28
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-HE420528
Transcription
Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt. J. D. Hudson.
c/o Consul General des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
28-5-42
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I wrote to you yesterday, but I am writing to you again to-day because this morning I received two more letters from you dated April 22nd & 29th, Nos. 37 & 38. I have received all of the first thirty-eight letters written this year except no. 11 which you must agree is excellent going. In your letter of April 22nd Mother sounded a little discouraged, but I understand so very well how one has periods of depressed feelings. I myself am by no means immune and believe me it is very difficult to shake off in a place like this once the mood gets its grip. You have your garden to go into and you can get outside and view fresh things and see fresh faces, which is impossible here. Everything is organised and one does practically the same routine day after day with no change of scene, and the summer climatic conditions are not too kindly. Just at present the weather is pleasant enough and quite reasonably cool for Laghouat at the end of May. We have [inserted] had [/inserted] some hot oppressive weather with an overhead layer of sand and a south wind blowing up from the desert causing occasional terrific sand storms. You say you are thinking of me always, in sunshine, in starshine, in daylight and through many dark hours of night your heart is with me in the oasis of Laghouat. I too am continually thinking of you at home, and at night time if I am awake I feel the separation worse. It is then that sleep is most difficult to come by. But I remain
[page break]
unshaken in my belief that once again in the near future we shall be together and that what we are undergoing now will have been but a cloud passing and that afterwards the sky will appear the more blue for its passing. I am glad to hear from your other letter that Grandad enjoyed his stay with you and appeared to benefit from the change. I hope the extra work involved did not prove to be too tiring. I am also pleased to learn that he showed his appreciation to you by leaving a small present. It is extremely kind of your good friend to let you have six tablets of Lifebuoy Toilet soap to send out to me. Will you express my gratitude to the he or she responsible? It is about one of the most useful items here. I am eagerly awaiting its arrival together with the socks, towels, State Express cigarettes and Mrs Clayton’s book. Parcels sent to Algiers from England, via the Red Cross take between two months & four to arrive, and generally come in fairly [inserted] large [/inserted] batches. Don’t worry about the possible inferior quality of the towels. You should see mine now! I am sending off to-day a short cable just to show you that your letters are arriving so satisfactorily. This is the message I am sending: - “Received thirty seven letters from you written this year latest number thirty eight all have love thoughts wishes always.” This will just remind you I am constantly thinking of you at home. There is not much I can add now, so I will bring my letter to a close. Keep your chins up, and keep smiling.
All my love to you both.
[underlined] Douglas [/underlined]
P.S. Don’t send me knitting needles. I have not the remotest idea how to “turn a heel”
c/o Consul General des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
28-5-42
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I wrote to you yesterday, but I am writing to you again to-day because this morning I received two more letters from you dated April 22nd & 29th, Nos. 37 & 38. I have received all of the first thirty-eight letters written this year except no. 11 which you must agree is excellent going. In your letter of April 22nd Mother sounded a little discouraged, but I understand so very well how one has periods of depressed feelings. I myself am by no means immune and believe me it is very difficult to shake off in a place like this once the mood gets its grip. You have your garden to go into and you can get outside and view fresh things and see fresh faces, which is impossible here. Everything is organised and one does practically the same routine day after day with no change of scene, and the summer climatic conditions are not too kindly. Just at present the weather is pleasant enough and quite reasonably cool for Laghouat at the end of May. We have [inserted] had [/inserted] some hot oppressive weather with an overhead layer of sand and a south wind blowing up from the desert causing occasional terrific sand storms. You say you are thinking of me always, in sunshine, in starshine, in daylight and through many dark hours of night your heart is with me in the oasis of Laghouat. I too am continually thinking of you at home, and at night time if I am awake I feel the separation worse. It is then that sleep is most difficult to come by. But I remain
[page break]
unshaken in my belief that once again in the near future we shall be together and that what we are undergoing now will have been but a cloud passing and that afterwards the sky will appear the more blue for its passing. I am glad to hear from your other letter that Grandad enjoyed his stay with you and appeared to benefit from the change. I hope the extra work involved did not prove to be too tiring. I am also pleased to learn that he showed his appreciation to you by leaving a small present. It is extremely kind of your good friend to let you have six tablets of Lifebuoy Toilet soap to send out to me. Will you express my gratitude to the he or she responsible? It is about one of the most useful items here. I am eagerly awaiting its arrival together with the socks, towels, State Express cigarettes and Mrs Clayton’s book. Parcels sent to Algiers from England, via the Red Cross take between two months & four to arrive, and generally come in fairly [inserted] large [/inserted] batches. Don’t worry about the possible inferior quality of the towels. You should see mine now! I am sending off to-day a short cable just to show you that your letters are arriving so satisfactorily. This is the message I am sending: - “Received thirty seven letters from you written this year latest number thirty eight all have love thoughts wishes always.” This will just remind you I am constantly thinking of you at home. There is not much I can add now, so I will bring my letter to a close. Keep your chins up, and keep smiling.
All my love to you both.
[underlined] Douglas [/underlined]
P.S. Don’t send me knitting needles. I have not the remotest idea how to “turn a heel”
Collection
Citation
James Douglas Hudson, “Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 19, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/22679.
Item Relations
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