Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Title
Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Description
Writing again straight away as did not think previous letter covered all the ground. Reports on mail, photographs and cables. Always pleased to receive photographs from them. Mentions trying to get photographic film but it was difficult. He would try and get some photographs taken. Catches up with news from home. Comments that although it had been hot he thought the worst was over. Mentions he slept out of doors and comments on weather. Says Red Cross supplies coming in well and they have got some fuel to help with tea. Writes that his parcels have not arrived and reiterates what he needs in next ones particularly footwear. Philosophises and says he has had plenty of time to think.
Creator
Date
1942-07-22
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-HE420722
Transcription
Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt. J. D. Hudson.
c/o. Consul Général des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
22-7-42.
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I am writing to you again today, because I do not think my yesterday’s letter really covered all the ground. I had so much to acknowledge, yesterday being a red letter day, two letters from you Nos. 53 & 55 dated June 19th & 26th and a telegram dated July 18th acknowledging receipt of mine of July 6th and giving the good news that fourteen more of my letters had got home, latest dated May 9th, also thirteen ‘photos. Your letters also contained three ‘photos which I was so glad to receive and which I have added to my collection. I am always very pleased to receive photos, and I should like to encourage the practice of sending them out. I wonder if you would ask John to try & send out a few snaps taken during our past holidays and any others he may have. It is difficult obtaining films now and the demands in this ever growing camp are very great. We are trying to get films from Alger & if successful I shall try & get ‘photos taken during the summer, but I cannot guarantee this. You speak about having had only five days “summer” weather. What a pity this is when we have so much. Recently it has been very hot but I have a strong feeling that the worst is over and I am expecting a gradual cooling off now on. To-day is the coolest we have had for some time. I sleep out of doors and
[page break]
I find this cooler, as do half the other people in the camp. It is hopeless trying to get to sleep early the hot weather seems to keep half the people awake and darned noisy – “blast em”. Red Cross supplies are coming in well at the moment & we have “contacted” a little fuel to help make the tea. None of your parcels have arrived. It is hardly time for the Red Cross clothes parcel; anyway there should not be much doubt about that. Safe things to send out to me at any time are socks, footwear, soap, light underwear & towels. These are most important and cannot be obtained here. My footwear is in a dreadful condition. I still have my flying boots but they are no good to walk about in. My shoes are falling to bits. Don’t send anything smaller than size seven, much better too big than too small. I expect my feet will be bigger having walked about barefoot so much during the summer. Fancy having to worry about all these small things! But I find it is the very smallest now that count so much. What an amazing changed sense of proportions some of us will have when this blows over! I have had more time to think, and more opportunity for thinking, than I ever expected would be granted to me in a lifetime, but conclusions of logical thought don’t bring the satisfaction that action might. Yet we go on carrying out our contract, building our castles on a foundation of cloud, hoping one day we may strike a more solid base. Until we can stake our claim, I send you both all my love, thoughts & best wishes as ever. You are always in my mind.
[underlined] Douglas [/underlined].
c/o. Consul Général des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
22-7-42.
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I am writing to you again today, because I do not think my yesterday’s letter really covered all the ground. I had so much to acknowledge, yesterday being a red letter day, two letters from you Nos. 53 & 55 dated June 19th & 26th and a telegram dated July 18th acknowledging receipt of mine of July 6th and giving the good news that fourteen more of my letters had got home, latest dated May 9th, also thirteen ‘photos. Your letters also contained three ‘photos which I was so glad to receive and which I have added to my collection. I am always very pleased to receive photos, and I should like to encourage the practice of sending them out. I wonder if you would ask John to try & send out a few snaps taken during our past holidays and any others he may have. It is difficult obtaining films now and the demands in this ever growing camp are very great. We are trying to get films from Alger & if successful I shall try & get ‘photos taken during the summer, but I cannot guarantee this. You speak about having had only five days “summer” weather. What a pity this is when we have so much. Recently it has been very hot but I have a strong feeling that the worst is over and I am expecting a gradual cooling off now on. To-day is the coolest we have had for some time. I sleep out of doors and
[page break]
I find this cooler, as do half the other people in the camp. It is hopeless trying to get to sleep early the hot weather seems to keep half the people awake and darned noisy – “blast em”. Red Cross supplies are coming in well at the moment & we have “contacted” a little fuel to help make the tea. None of your parcels have arrived. It is hardly time for the Red Cross clothes parcel; anyway there should not be much doubt about that. Safe things to send out to me at any time are socks, footwear, soap, light underwear & towels. These are most important and cannot be obtained here. My footwear is in a dreadful condition. I still have my flying boots but they are no good to walk about in. My shoes are falling to bits. Don’t send anything smaller than size seven, much better too big than too small. I expect my feet will be bigger having walked about barefoot so much during the summer. Fancy having to worry about all these small things! But I find it is the very smallest now that count so much. What an amazing changed sense of proportions some of us will have when this blows over! I have had more time to think, and more opportunity for thinking, than I ever expected would be granted to me in a lifetime, but conclusions of logical thought don’t bring the satisfaction that action might. Yet we go on carrying out our contract, building our castles on a foundation of cloud, hoping one day we may strike a more solid base. Until we can stake our claim, I send you both all my love, thoughts & best wishes as ever. You are always in my mind.
[underlined] Douglas [/underlined].
Collection
Citation
J D Hudson, “Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed July 22, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/22736.
Item Relations
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