Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents

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Title

Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents

Description

Mentions strong wind blowing bringing heat and sand and describes how they manage their days in the heat. Thinks he is better acclimatised than previous year. Reports good supply of Red Cross food and lists contents. Tells story of what they did after getting hold some ice. Still difficult to get fuel to make tea and mentions what they have tried to use. Describes problems with high temperatures but they manage in their room as they have obtained netting to put on windows to keep out flies. Mentions five men in their room and describes one room mate in glowing terms. Mentions that a copy of the camp newspaper had arrived with red cross and should be mentioned in the POW monthly. Reports arrival of more English cigarettes.

Creator

Date

1942-07-05

Temporal Coverage

Language

Format

Two page handwritten letter

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-HE420705

Transcription

Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt. J.D.Hudson.
c/o Consul Général des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
5-7-42

My Dear Mother & Dad,

It is Sunday afternoon and there is a terrific wind blowing up from the desert bringing with it plenty of heat and fair [?] quantities of sand. It is 2 oclock, and warm. Generally at this time we try and sleep because these days we are up before 6 every morning - the coolest part of the day. The Colonnades get very hot in the afternoon and retain the heat in the stones and floor until mid-night or after. I think we have just about reached the peak and I don't expect it will get any hotter. I am far better acclimatised this year than I was last and think it must be pretty grim for anybody coming straight down here from England at this time of the year. There is quite a good supply of Red X food just arrived from the Canadian Branch. This means more tea, milk, sugar, corned beef, salmon, butter & a little soap - thank goodness. Yesterday we managed to get some ice and lemonade and played about with it like schoolboys until it melted, cooling down our water, solidifying the butter and trying to make out of the Milk iced drinks. You have no idea how much we appreciate these Red X parcels. Unfortunately we find it difficult getting sufficient fuel to make the tea. We burn straw, cardboard, paper and any old thing, and to start with put our pan out in the open at mid-day to get the water heated by the sun for two or three hours. This itself gets the water to more than

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normal bath temperature to begin with. Anything metal left outside gets too hot to touch. We, in this room are probably better placed than the average N.C.O. [?] or rating, having a side small room with three windows. Having recently acquired muslin, or netting from Alger, we can keep the windows open all day and night, benefit by the draught and at the same time exclude the flies. Terrific improvement upon the fly condition at [one indecipherable word]. We have five in the room now. One chap I think is the nicest fellow I have [deleted] ever [/deleted] met since leaving home & probably even before the war. He has a beautiful outlook on life and is a fully qualified Accountant. An excellent room mate, and most interesting; [deleted] yet [/deleted] he possesses a manner I have never come up against before, for thoughtfulness & consideration. He is a "find" in these circumstances, and like many other stupid misfits is only an ordinary ranker[?]. I hope we shall not get separated now. He comes from South Wales and knows all the country around Chepstow & Wye Valley where we spent our last happy holiday. A copy of the "Camp Echo" has been received by the Red X in London. They are trying to publish it but fear some parts will have to be censored. I should write to them and see if you can get hold of it. I suppose it will be mentioned in the P. of W. Monthly. Some more English cigarettes arrived from the Red Cross. I exchanged most of mine - one Gold Flake for two Algerian cigarettes. I dont [sic] like them half so much as the cigarettes we get here, they appear to be so queerly flavoured and scented. Good-bye now until next letter. My thoughts are always with you and I hope everything will go as well as possible with you both until we meet again. All my love & wishes Douglas.

Collection

Citation

J D Hudson, “Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents ,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 29, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/22731.

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