Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents

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Title

Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents

Description

Writes of poor weather and harrowing news on radio. Glad to get recent cable but not expecting letters after latest batch of 18 with the last dated 23 July. Describes post and censorship marks on envelopes and postcards. Writes about their activities and difficulty of getting coal. Mentions rationing and what is available to buy. Mentions notification of limits to amount of soap she can send him and having received prisoner of war publication. Says he must cable any more request for item to be sent. Comments that Red Cross Christmas parcels were now being packed and mentions total numbers packed each week and costs..

Creator

Date

1942-08-07

Temporal Coverage

Language

Format

Two page handwritten letter

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-HEHudsonJD420807

Transcription

[inserted] 169 [/inserted]
[underlined] 68 [/underlined]
[inserted] 8-9-42 [/inserted]
191 Halifax Road
Nelson Lancs.
England.
Friday a.m. [deleted] July [/deleted] [inserted] August [/inserted] 7th/42
My dear Douglas.
It looks as if we must say Goodbye to summer now. This morning is Autumn with heavy mist – rain at 6-30 & everything out-of-doors looking still & damp & sad & need we wonder!! At present Dad & I just listen to the big news on the radio then we switch off before all the harrowing details of this terrible upheaval are defined. It is all so very distressing & bewildering. We were delighted to have your cable on Saturday last. The recent news of you is so welcome. I cannot yet begin to expect more letters from you as the last batch of 18 only ended about the 23rd of July & there is usually a delay of five or six weeks between them. The very last to arrive was the first to be written dated March 13th. It must have been lost somewhere tho’ there are no extra post-marks to verify my surmise. By the time they arrive here your letters bear five censor-ship marks & of course Laghouat post-mark & your post-card picture of Laghouat had four marks & the post-mark, every one very neatly stamped on the address part of the card which I thought was rather decent on the part of the censors. I have just had to leave my letter to attend to my grocer whose visit, fortnightly, is quite an interesting event. His load today included 12 brickettes. I am trying to make some provision against the wintry weather & coal, as you are probably aware is almost as precious as gold. It is nearly three weeks since the man left four bags on his usual round but that is not much
[page break]
to build up a winter reserve. To revert to the groceries – it is really wonderful what we can buy after nearly 3 years of war. This morning I have got my monthly ration of sweets 1/2 lb boiled sweets, butter scotch & lime fruits, & 1/2 lb of toffee things coated with chocolate. They are quite good. My soap ration is 1 lb for 2 weeks & speaking of soap reminds me of your next parcel. I thought to send you the 6 tablets of Lifebuoy, & perhaps a Palmolive (which I cannot buy at present) but according to the July edition of the “Prisoner of War” journal the total amount of soap in a parcel after July 1st is eleven ounces (11 ozs) each tablet counts 3 ozs. I am wondering now if they would allow the seven sent, in ignorance, in my parcel of July 25th. I received the July & August publications yesterday & a most courteous note. You must cable any further needs. I wrote to London on Monday about the cables muddle but so far there is no response. I hope you have got things straightened out now. We are more than thankful for the precious link the cables provide. Your latest letter was written on May 15th & I know it is no use expecting any more for some time yet. “The Prisoner of War tells me that Christmas parcels are now being packed. There is also a list of the contents but I won’t spoil the little surprise – only tell you that it reads good & I do hope you will all receive your shares safely. I also learn from the journal that at present 175,000 parcels are being packed each week in the United Kingdom & Canada at a cost of £87,500. What a blessed organization!! Goodbye now love & as ever all our love & thoughts & prayers are 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 March 29, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/23768.

Item Relations

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