Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents
Title
Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents
Description
Writes about weather and lack of rain. Mentions reports of sandstorms in Libya and wonders if they affect him. Writes of Laghouat water supply and hopes that they do not suffer from drought. Writes of receiving first publication of Red Cross monthly edition of "Prisoners of War" and describes some content. Discusses how this might help relatives. Still awaiting letters from him the last one dated 9 January, Reports sending him a cable telling him parcel was on its way. Writes of plans for future parcels and asks if he received books sent by friend.
Creator
Date
1942-05-03
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
Two pagehandwritten 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-HEHudsonJD420503
Transcription
[inserted] 140 [/inserted]
[underlined] 40 [/underlined]
[inserted] 4-6-42 [/inserted]
191 Halifax Road
Nelson Lancs.
England.
Sunday May 3rd/1942
My dear Douglas.
This is a very beautiful Sunday evening, calm & very peaceful-looking with sunshine & new green on fields & trees. We have been a long time without rain – we cannot remember when we had our last showers but it is more than 3 weeks & you can imagine how great is the need. I keep hoeing around my little plants to try to keep them alive but they don’t look too robust. I am always thinking of you & wondering how things are with you. We read in the papers & hear from the wireless of the sandstorms in the Libyan desert & wonder how much you are affected by them. I gathered when reading the book “In Lightest Africa that Laghouat was dependent on the rain for its water supply which came from a small river running thro’ the town. I do hope you do not suffer from the drought. Well love I had just written to the part about the book last night when Miss Chester arrived & I had to put my letter away until this morning. At least the morning brought a little more news for you in the form of the first publication by the Red X of a monthly edition called “The Prisoner of war. It is a very modest little effort but no doubt when it gets properly going it may fulfil a need. There is a lot of news about parcels sent to prisoners in Germany &
[page break]
& a message from The Queen is on the front page I will quote a part of it as it seems to express my feelings too. “Loss of freedom is hard to hear, for those who have lived as free men in a free country, & it is hard, too, for those who wait at home, to go cheerfully about their daily tasks, in the knowledge that someone dear to them is in exile & a prisoner. I hope it may be of some small consolation to them to know that the Red X is striving by every means in its power to lighten the lot of British prisoners & [underlined] to make them feel that they are ever in the thoughts of those at home. [underlined]” The long wait for your precious letters continues & our last one from you is dated Jan. 9th. I sent a cable on Wednesday telling of the parcel on its way to you. I was saying to Dad I will buy thinner socks for you next time as I imagine it will be spring of next year before you receive a second parcel. It all sounds very dreadful planning for your life in camp next year & we just keep on hoping & praying that peace will come quickly & that very soon we may plan for the glad day of reunion. By the time you get this letter your birthday will be over but I’m hoping you’ll get the cable on time & you will surely know that our thoughts & wishes are with you. Did you get Mrs Clayton’s book & our cigarettes? Speaking of cigarettes do you know that the price of Players is 1/- a pkt of 10 now & Dad’s tobacco was 1/4 1/2 is now 2/- an ounce. But we’ve still got life & hope & a very beautiful world this morning with warm Spring sunshine. All our love & thoughts & prayers are ever with you. Mother & Dad
755052 Hudson
Camp Militaire
Laghouat Algerie.
[underlined] 40 [/underlined]
[inserted] 4-6-42 [/inserted]
191 Halifax Road
Nelson Lancs.
England.
Sunday May 3rd/1942
My dear Douglas.
This is a very beautiful Sunday evening, calm & very peaceful-looking with sunshine & new green on fields & trees. We have been a long time without rain – we cannot remember when we had our last showers but it is more than 3 weeks & you can imagine how great is the need. I keep hoeing around my little plants to try to keep them alive but they don’t look too robust. I am always thinking of you & wondering how things are with you. We read in the papers & hear from the wireless of the sandstorms in the Libyan desert & wonder how much you are affected by them. I gathered when reading the book “In Lightest Africa that Laghouat was dependent on the rain for its water supply which came from a small river running thro’ the town. I do hope you do not suffer from the drought. Well love I had just written to the part about the book last night when Miss Chester arrived & I had to put my letter away until this morning. At least the morning brought a little more news for you in the form of the first publication by the Red X of a monthly edition called “The Prisoner of war. It is a very modest little effort but no doubt when it gets properly going it may fulfil a need. There is a lot of news about parcels sent to prisoners in Germany &
[page break]
& a message from The Queen is on the front page I will quote a part of it as it seems to express my feelings too. “Loss of freedom is hard to hear, for those who have lived as free men in a free country, & it is hard, too, for those who wait at home, to go cheerfully about their daily tasks, in the knowledge that someone dear to them is in exile & a prisoner. I hope it may be of some small consolation to them to know that the Red X is striving by every means in its power to lighten the lot of British prisoners & [underlined] to make them feel that they are ever in the thoughts of those at home. [underlined]” The long wait for your precious letters continues & our last one from you is dated Jan. 9th. I sent a cable on Wednesday telling of the parcel on its way to you. I was saying to Dad I will buy thinner socks for you next time as I imagine it will be spring of next year before you receive a second parcel. It all sounds very dreadful planning for your life in camp next year & we just keep on hoping & praying that peace will come quickly & that very soon we may plan for the glad day of reunion. By the time you get this letter your birthday will be over but I’m hoping you’ll get the cable on time & you will surely know that our thoughts & wishes are with you. Did you get Mrs Clayton’s book & our cigarettes? Speaking of cigarettes do you know that the price of Players is 1/- a pkt of 10 now & Dad’s tobacco was 1/4 1/2 is now 2/- an ounce. But we’ve still got life & hope & a very beautiful world this morning with warm Spring sunshine. All our love & thoughts & prayers are ever with you. Mother & Dad
755052 Hudson
Camp Militaire
Laghouat Algerie.
Collection
Citation
P Hudson, “Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 23, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/23648.
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