Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Title
Letter from Douglas Hudson to his parents
Description
Catches up on latest mail received and is glad they are receiving his mail. Pleased that they understood the gap in his letters in June. They mention they have dispatched shoes size 7 which he says should fit. Wishes that they send another pair in future parcel as well as soap and socks. Writes of mail problems. Asks if they could send him some French exam papers. Comments on his weather and bad weather at home.
Creator
Date
1942-09-24
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-HE420924
Transcription
Royal Air Force. 755052. Sgt J. D. Hudson
c/o. Consul Général des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
24-09-42.
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I was very delighted to receive your letter No. 75 this morning in which you gave me the list of letters, apparently in perfect sequence, received on Aug. 31st. It is very encouraging to learn that letters are reaching you far more satisfactorily and I do hope it will continue to be like this. I am particularly glad that you understand the reason for the gap in my letters in early June. You will appreciate that I am not lying back complacently. You mention in the letter received today that you despatched a pair of shoes size 7 exactly like those I used to wear. These should fit satisfactorily. May I suggest that in future if you send another pair of shoes to try and find some heftier ones. Quality does not matter very much out here, it is durability which counts. However, I shall be very pleased when the first pair come to land because my footwear is exhausted. Socks are other requirements. At the moment I class these with soap as being the most needy. You ask me to write to Cllr. Allen at [indecipherable word]. I find this to be a little difficult at the present because as explained in my last two letters we are now restricted to two letters per week and these I send home to you. As such a long time has elapsed since I last communicated with them I shall find it difficult breaking the ice when the opportunity arises. You will notice that this letter is going “F.M.” and not Air Mail. We are now restricted to this means of writing for some stupid reason, but I hardly think it will make much difference because I imagine the mail goes via the Consul anyway. This probably accounts for the recent improvement in deliveries. I sent a letter to you on September 15th by Reg.d Airmail. I asked you to cable me if it made a
[page break]
particularly quick journey then I would try the experiment again. I received the receipt from Laghouat P.O. dated 18th September, so I presume the letter is on its way. The cost for sending was 11 francs for Air Mail plus 15 francs registering. I am still struggling with this fountain pen. It is a wretched proposition and I find it difficult trying to write with it at all. I wonder if you could send me some French Papers of previous Higher School Certificate Exams. Not Matric or School Learning but Higher Schools. I think these maybe obtained from W.H. Smith or M/cr. University. If it is difficult don’t bother, or if you think they would take months. The [inserted] New [/inserted] Bodleian Library, Oxford have sent [deleted] sent [/deleted] books out to us quickly. I suggest if you could get hold of these papers you include one in each letter by Air Mail, they are very thin. I feel these might be useful and give me an idea of my standard of French I could work them out and get them corrected here. The weather has been considerably cooler of late & I find it a pleasant change indeed after the heat of the summer months. I am sorry to keep reading from your letters of the bad weather you are having at home. Ours at the present time is ideal. It is about bearable at any time of the day out of doors, never too hot and just right in the early morning & during the night. The spring and the autumn out here are very pleasant. Continual blue sky now the short rainy spell is over. Last night we had the finest sunset I have seen for many a month. A terrific sky of red, brilliant then gradually diminishing as the sun went down, leaving a pale bluish hue darkening as night fell and the stars came out. Thousands of stars are visible here nearly every night, yesterday was no exception. I have started reading up my Meteorology again. I was fortunate in bringing my Nav. book with me, so I can brush up a few points now & then. It generally depresses me when I do this – brings back too many memories. Cheerio now until next Tuesday’s letter. Keep smiling & of good cheer. My thoughts are always with. As ever all my love & best wishes. Douglas.
c/o. Consul Général des Etats Unis.
Rue Michelet.
Alger. Algérie.
Afrique du Nord.
24-09-42.
My Dear Mother & Dad,
I was very delighted to receive your letter No. 75 this morning in which you gave me the list of letters, apparently in perfect sequence, received on Aug. 31st. It is very encouraging to learn that letters are reaching you far more satisfactorily and I do hope it will continue to be like this. I am particularly glad that you understand the reason for the gap in my letters in early June. You will appreciate that I am not lying back complacently. You mention in the letter received today that you despatched a pair of shoes size 7 exactly like those I used to wear. These should fit satisfactorily. May I suggest that in future if you send another pair of shoes to try and find some heftier ones. Quality does not matter very much out here, it is durability which counts. However, I shall be very pleased when the first pair come to land because my footwear is exhausted. Socks are other requirements. At the moment I class these with soap as being the most needy. You ask me to write to Cllr. Allen at [indecipherable word]. I find this to be a little difficult at the present because as explained in my last two letters we are now restricted to two letters per week and these I send home to you. As such a long time has elapsed since I last communicated with them I shall find it difficult breaking the ice when the opportunity arises. You will notice that this letter is going “F.M.” and not Air Mail. We are now restricted to this means of writing for some stupid reason, but I hardly think it will make much difference because I imagine the mail goes via the Consul anyway. This probably accounts for the recent improvement in deliveries. I sent a letter to you on September 15th by Reg.d Airmail. I asked you to cable me if it made a
[page break]
particularly quick journey then I would try the experiment again. I received the receipt from Laghouat P.O. dated 18th September, so I presume the letter is on its way. The cost for sending was 11 francs for Air Mail plus 15 francs registering. I am still struggling with this fountain pen. It is a wretched proposition and I find it difficult trying to write with it at all. I wonder if you could send me some French Papers of previous Higher School Certificate Exams. Not Matric or School Learning but Higher Schools. I think these maybe obtained from W.H. Smith or M/cr. University. If it is difficult don’t bother, or if you think they would take months. The [inserted] New [/inserted] Bodleian Library, Oxford have sent [deleted] sent [/deleted] books out to us quickly. I suggest if you could get hold of these papers you include one in each letter by Air Mail, they are very thin. I feel these might be useful and give me an idea of my standard of French I could work them out and get them corrected here. The weather has been considerably cooler of late & I find it a pleasant change indeed after the heat of the summer months. I am sorry to keep reading from your letters of the bad weather you are having at home. Ours at the present time is ideal. It is about bearable at any time of the day out of doors, never too hot and just right in the early morning & during the night. The spring and the autumn out here are very pleasant. Continual blue sky now the short rainy spell is over. Last night we had the finest sunset I have seen for many a month. A terrific sky of red, brilliant then gradually diminishing as the sun went down, leaving a pale bluish hue darkening as night fell and the stars came out. Thousands of stars are visible here nearly every night, yesterday was no exception. I have started reading up my Meteorology again. I was fortunate in bringing my Nav. book with me, so I can brush up a few points now & then. It generally depresses me when I do this – brings back too many memories. Cheerio now until next Tuesday’s letter. Keep smiling & of good cheer. My thoughts are always with. 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/22864.
Item Relations
This item has no relations.