Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Title
Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Description
Sends greetings on their wedding anniversary, cable to follow. Reports arrival of mail but no parcels, still hoping. Mentions strong wind blowing and that it has been hot for several days. Reports on books read and discusses some content. Relates story of quick drying towel to indicate how hot it is. Says they have not yet finished Red Cross food supplies and have their own kitchen with sailors doing cooking. Describes food available which is cooked in European fashion and the have boiling waters available three times a day to make tea.
Creator
Date
1942-08-04
Temporal Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
Two page handwritten letter with 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-HE420804
Transcription
[envelope]
EXAMINER 3144
[postmark]
F.M.
[inserted] August 4th/42 [/inserted]
MR. & MRS. H. E. HUDSON
191, HALIFAX ROAD.
NELSON.
LANCASHIRE.
ANGLETERRE.
[/envelope]
[page break]
[reverse of envelope]
FROM. SGT. J. D. HUDSON. 755052
CAMP DES INTERNES BRITAINIQUE
LAGHOUAT.
ALGERIE.
AFRIQUE DU NORD.
[/reverse of envelope]
[page break]
Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt. J. D. Hudson
c/o Consul General des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet
Alger. Algerie
Afrique du Nord
4-8-42
My Dear Mother & Dad,
To-day being your Wedding Anniversary my thoughts are very much with you and I am sending just a short message by cable hoping it will reach you quickly. It is a very simple message as follows:- “All love thoughts and best wishes Wedding Anniversary”. Your last letter to arrive was No. 60 which came before Nos. 57, 58 & 59 yet to reach me, but expected any day. I have not received any parcels. The book I am beginning to despair of receiving, but I still have hope the cigarettes will come to hand. The Red Cross parcel is not quite due and should arrive safely before very long. As I am writing this letter a terrific wind is blowing papers, pens & every darned thing off the table. It is a hot wind too, as though released from an oven[?], in short a maddening wind which blows no good. For many days now it has been unpleasantly hot, especially at night time. I am expecting it to cool off any day really, but so far the heat is persistent, and I am still expecting. I have just read “Vanity Fair” and a book by Susan Erty[?] called “Madam Claire” which I can recommend to you – it being a gentle
[page break]
book. I was half way through “Tale of Two Cities” when somebody plonked “Random Harvest” down
and as it is urgently required elsewhere I have had to lay Dickens aside temprorily[sic]. The story is by James Hilton of “Lost Horizons” fame – do you remember our[?] seeing the film? – so far I have not read sufficiently far to express an opinion. The “Tale of Two Cities” is good but it is not necessary for me to tell you this. To give you an idea of the heat and dryness of Laghouat this morning at 11 oclock[sic] I washed a towel. I hung it to dry whilst I washed a handkerchief. By the time the handkerchief was washed the towel was dry, & the handkerchief dried in the hot breeze whilst I carried it [inserted] back indoors [/inserted] across the courtyard. Believe it or not, it is true. We have not yet finished our Red Cross food supplies. Since Saturday we have had our own kitchens working. The sailors do the cooking. They have the same food as before – macaroni, cous-cous, dried peas and a few fresh vegetables, at present onions & marrow – which they try & cook in a more European manner. The real beauty of this development is that we can obtain boiling water three times a day for our tea. As long as the tea lasts out or[?] if it continues we are well placed. I had four ‘photos taken last week in bathing drawers. Hope to send them [underlined] when [/underlined] the prints are ready. As ever all my love & best wishes. Douglas
EXAMINER 3144
[postmark]
F.M.
[inserted] August 4th/42 [/inserted]
MR. & MRS. H. E. HUDSON
191, HALIFAX ROAD.
NELSON.
LANCASHIRE.
ANGLETERRE.
[/envelope]
[page break]
[reverse of envelope]
FROM. SGT. J. D. HUDSON. 755052
CAMP DES INTERNES BRITAINIQUE
LAGHOUAT.
ALGERIE.
AFRIQUE DU NORD.
[/reverse of envelope]
[page break]
Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt. J. D. Hudson
c/o Consul General des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet
Alger. Algerie
Afrique du Nord
4-8-42
My Dear Mother & Dad,
To-day being your Wedding Anniversary my thoughts are very much with you and I am sending just a short message by cable hoping it will reach you quickly. It is a very simple message as follows:- “All love thoughts and best wishes Wedding Anniversary”. Your last letter to arrive was No. 60 which came before Nos. 57, 58 & 59 yet to reach me, but expected any day. I have not received any parcels. The book I am beginning to despair of receiving, but I still have hope the cigarettes will come to hand. The Red Cross parcel is not quite due and should arrive safely before very long. As I am writing this letter a terrific wind is blowing papers, pens & every darned thing off the table. It is a hot wind too, as though released from an oven[?], in short a maddening wind which blows no good. For many days now it has been unpleasantly hot, especially at night time. I am expecting it to cool off any day really, but so far the heat is persistent, and I am still expecting. I have just read “Vanity Fair” and a book by Susan Erty[?] called “Madam Claire” which I can recommend to you – it being a gentle
[page break]
book. I was half way through “Tale of Two Cities” when somebody plonked “Random Harvest” down
and as it is urgently required elsewhere I have had to lay Dickens aside temprorily[sic]. The story is by James Hilton of “Lost Horizons” fame – do you remember our[?] seeing the film? – so far I have not read sufficiently far to express an opinion. The “Tale of Two Cities” is good but it is not necessary for me to tell you this. To give you an idea of the heat and dryness of Laghouat this morning at 11 oclock[sic] I washed a towel. I hung it to dry whilst I washed a handkerchief. By the time the handkerchief was washed the towel was dry, & the handkerchief dried in the hot breeze whilst I carried it [inserted] back indoors [/inserted] across the courtyard. Believe it or not, it is true. We have not yet finished our Red Cross food supplies. Since Saturday we have had our own kitchens working. The sailors do the cooking. They have the same food as before – macaroni, cous-cous, dried peas and a few fresh vegetables, at present onions & marrow – which they try & cook in a more European manner. The real beauty of this development is that we can obtain boiling water three times a day for our tea. As long as the tea lasts out or[?] if it continues we are well placed. I had four ‘photos taken last week in bathing drawers. Hope to send them [underlined] when [/underlined] the prints are ready. As ever all my love & best wishes. Douglas
Collection
Citation
J D Hudson, “Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 26, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/22824.
Item Relations
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