Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Title
Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Description
Had received no new letters but was pleased to get a telegram to which he replied on the same day. Mentions problem with a cable that was returned because it needed his Christian name appending which delayed it. Discusses new scheme for cables to be paid by recipient at other end. Describes weather and building outside fireplace. Mentions leaving water outside to heat and thus economise on fuel to make tea. Comments on sweating out all moisture shortly after being refreshed by drinking tea. Mentions how they cope in sun and high temperatures. and use evaporation to keep things cool.
Creator
Date
1942-07-09
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-HE420709
Transcription
Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt. J.D.Hudson.
c/o Consul Général des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
9-7-42
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I have not received any letters from you since the six (Nos. 44 to 49) arrived on June 30th, but on July 6th I was very pleased to receive your telegram dated the 4th reading as follows:- "Delighted cable received thirtieth no prepaid reply to-day send your message receiver to pay letters despatched will explain holiday week now ended both well all love" I replied to this the same day "Delighted cable fourth remarks regarding receiver to pay understood must await official confirmation Laghauat first will probably take one week to come through latest letter received fortynine well all love thoughts Hudson" Much to my annoyance this telegram was returned to me from the Laghauat P.O. [inserted] authorities [/inserted] who required my Christian name appending to the message. This means two days delay and the message will not leave until tonight. The hold up at this end, and petty red tape, are ever increasing. It becomes more than annoying. The idea of "receiver to pay" originated at this end and I put my name down to be included in the scheme some time ago. The confirmation from Alger has not been received in Loghauat yet but is expected any day, so until this comes to hand I shall just send the messages off myself. It will not cause great inconvenience financially at this end
[page break]
because there is so little I can buy with my allowance nowadays. I wonder often what kind of weather you had for your holiday and I imagine it was spent in the garden. I realise you are not very keen travellers these days. The summer is well on its way and I do not find it as hot as I anticipated Two days ago it reached 110°F in the shade and yesterday was hotter. I don't know what the temp. was but imagine about 115°F. We have built ourselves a fireplace outside out of bricks and sand to try and economise in fuel which is almost non-existent. By putting the water outside in a jug for a couple of hours before using it, the sun heats it so much that it is almost too hot to put ones hand in. The metal of the jug becomes too hot to touch. Tea is especially refreshing but ten minutes after drinking it the whole lot oozes out in perspiration. I find if I perspire I can walk around in the hottest sun and not feel the heat of the rays on account of my body being damp. By wrapping our water & wine bottles, also Red Cross butter tins, in wet rags, the evaporation is so terrific that the cooling effect is wonderful. The butter remains solid during 110° outside. Try this round your milk bottles in August. When I get home I shall be able to save you a small fortune after the experience gained out here. What will be the use of tables & table-clothes and crockery etc? I can show you much more primitive substitutes. One doesn't live until one is Interned?? & then one lives to exist, sorry I mean exists to live. All my love & thoughts to you both always. Chins up & keep smiling. Douglas.
c/o Consul Général des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
9-7-42
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I have not received any letters from you since the six (Nos. 44 to 49) arrived on June 30th, but on July 6th I was very pleased to receive your telegram dated the 4th reading as follows:- "Delighted cable received thirtieth no prepaid reply to-day send your message receiver to pay letters despatched will explain holiday week now ended both well all love" I replied to this the same day "Delighted cable fourth remarks regarding receiver to pay understood must await official confirmation Laghauat first will probably take one week to come through latest letter received fortynine well all love thoughts Hudson" Much to my annoyance this telegram was returned to me from the Laghauat P.O. [inserted] authorities [/inserted] who required my Christian name appending to the message. This means two days delay and the message will not leave until tonight. The hold up at this end, and petty red tape, are ever increasing. It becomes more than annoying. The idea of "receiver to pay" originated at this end and I put my name down to be included in the scheme some time ago. The confirmation from Alger has not been received in Loghauat yet but is expected any day, so until this comes to hand I shall just send the messages off myself. It will not cause great inconvenience financially at this end
[page break]
because there is so little I can buy with my allowance nowadays. I wonder often what kind of weather you had for your holiday and I imagine it was spent in the garden. I realise you are not very keen travellers these days. The summer is well on its way and I do not find it as hot as I anticipated Two days ago it reached 110°F in the shade and yesterday was hotter. I don't know what the temp. was but imagine about 115°F. We have built ourselves a fireplace outside out of bricks and sand to try and economise in fuel which is almost non-existent. By putting the water outside in a jug for a couple of hours before using it, the sun heats it so much that it is almost too hot to put ones hand in. The metal of the jug becomes too hot to touch. Tea is especially refreshing but ten minutes after drinking it the whole lot oozes out in perspiration. I find if I perspire I can walk around in the hottest sun and not feel the heat of the rays on account of my body being damp. By wrapping our water & wine bottles, also Red Cross butter tins, in wet rags, the evaporation is so terrific that the cooling effect is wonderful. The butter remains solid during 110° outside. Try this round your milk bottles in August. When I get home I shall be able to save you a small fortune after the experience gained out here. What will be the use of tables & table-clothes and crockery etc? I can show you much more primitive substitutes. One doesn't live until one is Interned?? & then one lives to exist, sorry I mean exists to live. All my love & thoughts to you both always. Chins up & keep smiling. Douglas.
Collection
Citation
J D Hudson, “Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed June 20, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/22732.
Item Relations
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