Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Title
Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Description
Catches up with mail received. Mentions the worst of the heat of summer was over but is was still hotter than when they arrived two years ago. Contrasts weather at home and in North Africa and how he might be affected on return to England. Mentions arrival of calendar after eight months. Catches up with home news. Mentions the end of the camp newspaper and internal administration tasks. Comments on finding negatives of photographs of newspaper and that his French classes has ceased. Mentions their parcel again and his requirements for further. Says he is well off for clothes, still has uniform.
Creator
Date
1942-08-27
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-HE420827
Transcription
Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt. J. D. Hudson
c/o. Consul Général des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie
Afrique du Nord.
27-8-42
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I was very pleased to receive your letter No 66 this morning. This is the latest to arrive and apart from No 11 I have the complete sequence. The worst heat of the summer is now past although it is still very hot, far better than when we arrived in Tunis exactly two years ago. Little did I think at that time I should spend two years in this country & I often wonder how much longer I shall remain. It does sound strange to read in your letters of the rain in the summer months of June & July. As the days pass here we imagine it is practically impossible for the sun not to shine by day. Even in the winter time, ie. Dec. & Jan when it is cold we must get more sun than in the best summer month in England. I wonder what the after effect of all this sun will be. I suppose our blood will be like water But I am looking forward to the thickening up process. You will be very surprised when I tell you that your large calendar arrived yesterday, after a journey of eight months via Germany. I was nonetheless delighted to have it & the picture made me long stronger than ever for those green fields & country lanes where we used to hear the thrushes & blackbirds sing. I keep on hoping, as you do, for news of Ted. Four months is a very long time to wait & I understand how his people will feel. They have my full sympathies. I remember how you must have felt two years ago & it is at these
[page break]
times I appreciate how much we should feel thankful. It is oftentimes a difficult pill to swallow but I suppose it goes down all right in the end. We are getting a ridiculously large family & by the time I leave S.S. “Laghunat” I shall be more steeped in Naval routine than I was ever in R.A.F. Aye-aye. The “camp echo” did a natural death before the advent of summer and I hardly think it will live again. It is impracticable to cater for the camp now in the journalistic sense, & we are fairly well occupied in assisting in internal administration with the aid of our old printing press the typewriter. We found all the negatives of the old “Echo” & I rushed an order to the photographer for p.c. enlargements. I hope they will arrive speedily so I may send them on to you. There is not much I can talk to you about these days. My French class & studies were temporarily discontinued some ten days ago, but now our new arrivals are settled in I hope to open up again on Monday. I do appreciate your efforts re the parcels [deleted] and [/deleted] the first one to arrive was splendid. Soap & footwear are the most important requirements. Shoes or boots and socks for winter, & soap for all times & for all purposes. I am well off for outer garments. I still have my uniform although the trousers are too small to climb into. Sounds dreadful doesn’t it. The buttons on the tunic I moved as far as possible during last winter to enable me to button up & look (smart?) Again I fear I have written a not very newsy letter but it will pass censors which is the main thing. I shall send off a wire for Dads birthday either today or tomorrow You are always in my thoughts. All my love, thoughts & best wishes [underlined] Douglas [/underlined]
c/o. Consul Général des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie
Afrique du Nord.
27-8-42
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I was very pleased to receive your letter No 66 this morning. This is the latest to arrive and apart from No 11 I have the complete sequence. The worst heat of the summer is now past although it is still very hot, far better than when we arrived in Tunis exactly two years ago. Little did I think at that time I should spend two years in this country & I often wonder how much longer I shall remain. It does sound strange to read in your letters of the rain in the summer months of June & July. As the days pass here we imagine it is practically impossible for the sun not to shine by day. Even in the winter time, ie. Dec. & Jan when it is cold we must get more sun than in the best summer month in England. I wonder what the after effect of all this sun will be. I suppose our blood will be like water But I am looking forward to the thickening up process. You will be very surprised when I tell you that your large calendar arrived yesterday, after a journey of eight months via Germany. I was nonetheless delighted to have it & the picture made me long stronger than ever for those green fields & country lanes where we used to hear the thrushes & blackbirds sing. I keep on hoping, as you do, for news of Ted. Four months is a very long time to wait & I understand how his people will feel. They have my full sympathies. I remember how you must have felt two years ago & it is at these
[page break]
times I appreciate how much we should feel thankful. It is oftentimes a difficult pill to swallow but I suppose it goes down all right in the end. We are getting a ridiculously large family & by the time I leave S.S. “Laghunat” I shall be more steeped in Naval routine than I was ever in R.A.F. Aye-aye. The “camp echo” did a natural death before the advent of summer and I hardly think it will live again. It is impracticable to cater for the camp now in the journalistic sense, & we are fairly well occupied in assisting in internal administration with the aid of our old printing press the typewriter. We found all the negatives of the old “Echo” & I rushed an order to the photographer for p.c. enlargements. I hope they will arrive speedily so I may send them on to you. There is not much I can talk to you about these days. My French class & studies were temporarily discontinued some ten days ago, but now our new arrivals are settled in I hope to open up again on Monday. I do appreciate your efforts re the parcels [deleted] and [/deleted] the first one to arrive was splendid. Soap & footwear are the most important requirements. Shoes or boots and socks for winter, & soap for all times & for all purposes. I am well off for outer garments. I still have my uniform although the trousers are too small to climb into. Sounds dreadful doesn’t it. The buttons on the tunic I moved as far as possible during last winter to enable me to button up & look (smart?) Again I fear I have written a not very newsy letter but it will pass censors which is the main thing. I shall send off a wire for Dads birthday either today or tomorrow You are always in my thoughts. All my love, thoughts & best wishes [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/22834.
Item Relations
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