Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents

Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents

Writes of reading a letter from him dated a year ago from Médéa mentioning rain and wondering whether it was raining at Laghouat on same day this year. Still awaiting reply to latest cable. Continues with news of talking to locals about him, of their allotments and catching up with other gossip. Continues with news of friends and family. Concludes that there was still no letters from him.

1942-05-07

Two page handwritten letter

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.

EHudsonP-HEHudsonJD420507

[inserted] 141 [/inserted]
[underlined] 41 [/underlined]
[inserted] 4-6-42 [/inserted]
Wednesday May 7th 1942
191 Halifax Road
Nelson Lancs.
England.
My dear Douglas.
I have just been reading a letter from you written at Medea on May 7th 1941. You say it has been raining all day long & I am wondering if you will be able to say the same tomorrow May 7th 1942. I seem to be thinking of you all the time & I do wish we could have more regular news from you. I am still awaiting the reply to my cable of last Wednesday & there are no letters since the one dated January 9th. As I was going along to my grocer today Mr Exley stopped his car & got out to chat. Almost first thing he asked about you & sends very kindest regards. He told me that Mrs Exley is a most enthusiastic “digger for victory” & has an allotment in the field opposite our old home at Tugfield. Little Barbara is now 4 1/2 years old & will soon be going to school That presents rather a problem as there does not appear to be a suitable school in the vicinity of Vale Manson. This has been a most beautiful day & now the sun is going down behind Pendle Hill in a blaze of glory. From our dining room window “the world looks very beautiful” & we are very sad that war should mar & distress, so stupidly.
Two years ago at the beginning of May you had just made the long journey from “the edge o’beyond” to more civilized surroundings. No need to say “Do you remember?” I noticed in yesterday’s Guardian
[page break]
the announcement of the wedding of Peter Garnett Forrester of Cheadle Cheshire to a young lady of Cheadle Staffs. I should have written Peter Garrett Forrester [indecipherable word] I wonder what he is doing now. I have not heard from Mrs Clayton for several weeks & have no news of John. I told you that he is now at an Octu school. I also told you that Miss Hettie is, or was, living with Mrs Clayton & also a young Dutch man was a guest there, so Mrs Clayton will be kept busy. It seems a pity she has to be bothered with these people, but I’m afraid I’m not very sympathetic about her staying in that big house. Her brother said he would help to keep her if she would go into a small house.
In rather more than two weeks will be your birthday & you may be sure where our thoughts will be on that day & we shall hope & pray that it may be the last one, as a prisoner.
Now it is almost bed-time so I will leave my little space until morning. I’m always hoping there may be letters from you. Goodnight love. [inserted] Morning [/inserted] Still no news neither letter nor cable so I just keep on hoping. I wonder if you still stamp your letters. It does seem such a waste of your precious allowance. They surely would not take any longer to get here posted unstamped & as you know by now so few of them do arrive. All our love & thoughts & prayers Mother & Dad.
755052 Hudson
Camp Militaire
Laghouat. Algerie.