Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Title
Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Description
Catches up on mail received and tells them not to worry about him spending all his allowance on mail, there was little else to spend it on anyway. Mentions stamps applied by authorities not him and does not know why cost varies. Writes that the cigarette and book parcels have still not arrived but is also eagerly awaiting the parcels with soap. socks and towels via the Red Cross. List some other similar items that others have received. Mentions that they had not received any Red Cross food parcels for some time and this was possibly due to transport problems. In addition, there were many more internees now. Discusses the weather and sand storms.
Creator
Date
1942-06-05
Temporal Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
Two page handwritten letter and envelope
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-HE420605
Transcription
[front of envelope]
F.M.
[postmark]
June 5th/42
MR & MRS. H. E. HUDSON.
191. HALIFAX ROAD.
NELSON.
LANCASHIRE.
ANGLETERRE.
EXAMINER 500
[page break]
[rear of envelope]
FROM. SGT. J. D. HUDSON. 755052.
BRITISH INTERNED AIRMAN.
CAMP DES INTERNES BRITANNIQUES
LAGHOUAT.
ALGÉRIE.
AFRIQUE DU NORD.
[postmark]
P.C.90
OPENED BY
[page break]
Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt. J.D. Hudson.
℅. Consul Général des États Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
5-6-42.
My Dear Mother & Dad,
Yesterday I was very pleased to receive two letters from you dated May 3rd & 7th, Nos. 40 & 41. The arrival of letters from England is very good and I have received all the first 41 letters written by you this year up to May 7th with the exception of No. 11. I keep repeating that I do wish my mail reached you as regularly because I have always written to you twice weekly. Do not worry, as you appear to be doing, about me spending my allowance on stamps. There is so very little else I can spend it on these days and the cost incurred by postage is negligible. I do not stamp the letters myself, the envelopes leave me plain, and whatever stamps are later attached are affixed by outside authorities. Why the postage should vary I am at a loss to understand, neither can see why some letters should arrive without any stamps at all. Your parcel of cigarettes and Mrs. Clayton’s book have not arrived, but I am still faithfully optimistic. According to the receipt of cigarettes here I imagine that your parcel is just about due. I am eagerly awaiting your parcel of socks, soap, towels etc, sent via the Red Cross. Quite a lot of parcels containing similar items, also grey flannels & white shorts, shoes etc, have been & are still being received, fairly well intact. It is ages since we received any food parcels from the Red X
[page break]
perhaps they think that we are no longer in need of the extra nourishment and small luxuries they have provided in the past and for which we have always been so grateful. But on the other hand, probably the difficulties of transport are responsible, this is more probable. Then again we have to bear in mind that our family has increased enormously of late. You ask if we have had storms here as in the Libyan desert. We have had storms during the past few weeks but I doubt if they compare with those further East. Of course it is rather difficult to gauge their magnitude from within our enclosure. You mention not having had rain for three weeks and you wonder if we suffer from drought. With the exception of one shower we have not had any rain for five months and the water is ridiculously limited at this time of the year. The supply does come to the town from the river which is dependent on the winter rain and snows from the distant mountains. I believe the river is [inserted] practically [/inserted] dried up now, & will doubtless remain in this state until autumn. The weather has been reasonably cool for a few days and it makes a great deal of difference. The heat is quite strength sapping, but I find the flies the greatest menace. I, like you, hope most sincerely that May 21st would mark the final birthday I should spend in Africa. It does become wearisome waiting. I always think that in the end we shall have a lot to reap, and the harvesting will be one worth while. Things just dont [sic] stay wrong all the time and I find that when they appear blackest it is the unexpected that turns up opportunely. And on that note I must say good-bye until next letter. I am thinking about you always and I send all my love & best wishes to you both. Keep smiling & chins up.
Douglas.
F.M.
[postmark]
June 5th/42
MR & MRS. H. E. HUDSON.
191. HALIFAX ROAD.
NELSON.
LANCASHIRE.
ANGLETERRE.
EXAMINER 500
[page break]
[rear of envelope]
FROM. SGT. J. D. HUDSON. 755052.
BRITISH INTERNED AIRMAN.
CAMP DES INTERNES BRITANNIQUES
LAGHOUAT.
ALGÉRIE.
AFRIQUE DU NORD.
[postmark]
P.C.90
OPENED BY
[page break]
Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt. J.D. Hudson.
℅. Consul Général des États Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
5-6-42.
My Dear Mother & Dad,
Yesterday I was very pleased to receive two letters from you dated May 3rd & 7th, Nos. 40 & 41. The arrival of letters from England is very good and I have received all the first 41 letters written by you this year up to May 7th with the exception of No. 11. I keep repeating that I do wish my mail reached you as regularly because I have always written to you twice weekly. Do not worry, as you appear to be doing, about me spending my allowance on stamps. There is so very little else I can spend it on these days and the cost incurred by postage is negligible. I do not stamp the letters myself, the envelopes leave me plain, and whatever stamps are later attached are affixed by outside authorities. Why the postage should vary I am at a loss to understand, neither can see why some letters should arrive without any stamps at all. Your parcel of cigarettes and Mrs. Clayton’s book have not arrived, but I am still faithfully optimistic. According to the receipt of cigarettes here I imagine that your parcel is just about due. I am eagerly awaiting your parcel of socks, soap, towels etc, sent via the Red Cross. Quite a lot of parcels containing similar items, also grey flannels & white shorts, shoes etc, have been & are still being received, fairly well intact. It is ages since we received any food parcels from the Red X
[page break]
perhaps they think that we are no longer in need of the extra nourishment and small luxuries they have provided in the past and for which we have always been so grateful. But on the other hand, probably the difficulties of transport are responsible, this is more probable. Then again we have to bear in mind that our family has increased enormously of late. You ask if we have had storms here as in the Libyan desert. We have had storms during the past few weeks but I doubt if they compare with those further East. Of course it is rather difficult to gauge their magnitude from within our enclosure. You mention not having had rain for three weeks and you wonder if we suffer from drought. With the exception of one shower we have not had any rain for five months and the water is ridiculously limited at this time of the year. The supply does come to the town from the river which is dependent on the winter rain and snows from the distant mountains. I believe the river is [inserted] practically [/inserted] dried up now, & will doubtless remain in this state until autumn. The weather has been reasonably cool for a few days and it makes a great deal of difference. The heat is quite strength sapping, but I find the flies the greatest menace. I, like you, hope most sincerely that May 21st would mark the final birthday I should spend in Africa. It does become wearisome waiting. I always think that in the end we shall have a lot to reap, and the harvesting will be one worth while. Things just dont [sic] stay wrong all the time and I find that when they appear blackest it is the unexpected that turns up opportunely. And on that note I must say good-bye until next letter. I am thinking about you always and I send all my love & best wishes to you both. Keep smiling & chins up.
Douglas.
Collection
Citation
J D Hudson, “Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents ,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 24, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/22710.
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