Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents
Title
Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents
Description
Reports arrival of six letters from him that week and gives dates sent. Relates sad news that friend was reported missing in Malaya and that the news had led to the death of another friend. Writes of the subsequent funeral and other plans. Glad to hear that he has enough food and warmth. Mentions their coal supply is low and that they had had notice that fuel would be rationed. Concludes catching up with family news.
Creator
Date
1942-03-28
Spatial 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
EHudsonP-HEHudsonJD420328
Transcription
[inserted] 130 [/inserted]
[underlined] 30 [/underlined]
[inserted] 25-4-42 [/inserted]
191 Halifax Road
Nelson. Lancs.
England.
Saturday. 28/3/42
My dear Douglas.
It has been a great joy to us to have six letters from you this week dated Dec. 9th 18th 26th January 2nd 6th & 9th. They bear all colours & prices of stamps from 3 Francs to 5 centimes. Yes love we are keeping them all. We have every letter & p.c. you have sent since November 10th 1939 – all classified & ready for reference & as I have told you in a previous letter I often take them out & read them.
This week has been a very sad one for me. Last Saturday I had a letter from Mrs Holmes telling the very distressing news that Ted Hole is reported missing in Malaya. The letter also brought an invitation for me to spend Thursday at Skipton & I was looking forward to seeing old friends again. On Wednesday morning a Telegram arrived with the message “Do not come Thursday, letter follows” & in the afternoon a letter from Mr Holmes brought the sad news that Mrs Holmes had collapsed, after attending a concert, at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday night. She did not recover consciousness & passed very quietly away at 12-15 a.m. I went to the funeral yesterday & felt very sad & grieved to bid farewell to a dear friend. The whole family were most kind to me & I thought how wonderfully brave they were in the midst of their great sorrow. Geoffrey was home, on special leave of course. He was so kind & considerate & he & his very beautiful
[page break]
young [deleted] p [/deleted] wife came along in the car with Jack May’s husband to see me off from the station. Geoffrey wanted all the news about you & said how he has made every effort to join the R.A.F. & still kept on trying to transfer. I had lunch with Mr & Mrs Hole. As you will understand they were very troubled & anxious but so very kind to me. They have promised to spend a Saturday with us as soon the weather is warmer. Just at this moment Our King is speaking on the radio calling everyone to unite in prayer tomorrow. You know of course that I do not believe in these special days of prayer. Surely never before have we so much needed to pray without ceasing, not just on one special day, but every moment of every day. Our need of God’s help is more & more necessary to each one of us & we have very very [sic] many great blessings for which to constantly return thanks. It is a great joy & relief to us to learn that you have enough food & warmth. I have – naturally – felt very anxious & we all rejoice in the promise of Spring & the warmth & comfort [inserted] we hope [/inserted] of the summer. Our coal supply is very low indeed. It is nearly three weeks since we had our last delivery of two bags & the man bringing two more was very welcome about 4 oclock this afternoon. We have had notice that all fuel will shortly be rationed & that our next ration is to be eight penny worth (8d) each per week. I have told you that Uncle & Auntie are coming for Easter & they will bring their own rations. We took our own at Christmas. Now love it must be Goodbye & Goodnight. 9-15 p.m. Saturday. The cable which was unintelligible has not yet been returned so I have not sent one today. Hope to let you have a message before Easter. All love & thoughts & prayers Mother & Dad
755052 Hudson
Camp Militaire
Laghouat Algerie.
[underlined] 30 [/underlined]
[inserted] 25-4-42 [/inserted]
191 Halifax Road
Nelson. Lancs.
England.
Saturday. 28/3/42
My dear Douglas.
It has been a great joy to us to have six letters from you this week dated Dec. 9th 18th 26th January 2nd 6th & 9th. They bear all colours & prices of stamps from 3 Francs to 5 centimes. Yes love we are keeping them all. We have every letter & p.c. you have sent since November 10th 1939 – all classified & ready for reference & as I have told you in a previous letter I often take them out & read them.
This week has been a very sad one for me. Last Saturday I had a letter from Mrs Holmes telling the very distressing news that Ted Hole is reported missing in Malaya. The letter also brought an invitation for me to spend Thursday at Skipton & I was looking forward to seeing old friends again. On Wednesday morning a Telegram arrived with the message “Do not come Thursday, letter follows” & in the afternoon a letter from Mr Holmes brought the sad news that Mrs Holmes had collapsed, after attending a concert, at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday night. She did not recover consciousness & passed very quietly away at 12-15 a.m. I went to the funeral yesterday & felt very sad & grieved to bid farewell to a dear friend. The whole family were most kind to me & I thought how wonderfully brave they were in the midst of their great sorrow. Geoffrey was home, on special leave of course. He was so kind & considerate & he & his very beautiful
[page break]
young [deleted] p [/deleted] wife came along in the car with Jack May’s husband to see me off from the station. Geoffrey wanted all the news about you & said how he has made every effort to join the R.A.F. & still kept on trying to transfer. I had lunch with Mr & Mrs Hole. As you will understand they were very troubled & anxious but so very kind to me. They have promised to spend a Saturday with us as soon the weather is warmer. Just at this moment Our King is speaking on the radio calling everyone to unite in prayer tomorrow. You know of course that I do not believe in these special days of prayer. Surely never before have we so much needed to pray without ceasing, not just on one special day, but every moment of every day. Our need of God’s help is more & more necessary to each one of us & we have very very [sic] many great blessings for which to constantly return thanks. It is a great joy & relief to us to learn that you have enough food & warmth. I have – naturally – felt very anxious & we all rejoice in the promise of Spring & the warmth & comfort [inserted] we hope [/inserted] of the summer. Our coal supply is very low indeed. It is nearly three weeks since we had our last delivery of two bags & the man bringing two more was very welcome about 4 oclock this afternoon. We have had notice that all fuel will shortly be rationed & that our next ration is to be eight penny worth (8d) each per week. I have told you that Uncle & Auntie are coming for Easter & they will bring their own rations. We took our own at Christmas. Now love it must be Goodbye & Goodnight. 9-15 p.m. Saturday. The cable which was unintelligible has not yet been returned so I have not sent one today. Hope to let you have a message before Easter. All love & thoughts & prayers Mother & Dad
755052 Hudson
Camp Militaire
Laghouat Algerie.
Collection
Citation
P Hudson, “Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 19, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/23597.
Item Relations
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