Letter to Douglas Hudson from J MacKenzie

Letter to Douglas Hudson from J MacKenzie

Letter from manager at Jaffe and Sons Ltd mentioning ex work colleagues from prewar employer. Many had now left and were in the forces. Asks how he likes Algeria. Mention fund raised by members of the company to send comfort to members of staff who are prisoners of war. States he is sending 500 Players cigarettes in two consignments. Asks Douglas to let him know if he would prefer anything other than cigarettes. Wishes for safe return.

1942-09-29

Two sided handwritten airmail prisoner of war letter form and envelope

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.

EMackenzieJHudsonJD420929

[Envelope]
[underlined] PRISONER OF WAR POST [/underlined] [postmark] [postage stamp]
KRIEGSGEFANGENENPOST SERVICE DES PRISONNIERS DE GUERRE
[air mail label]
RANK & NAME: 755052 SGT. J. DOUGLAS HUDSON British Prisoner of War
[censor stamp] PASSED P.W. 1964 PRISONER OF WAR No.: INTERNED BRITISH AIRMAN
CAMP NAME & No.: CAMP MILITAIRE LAGHOUAT
COUNTRY: ALGERIE AFRIQUE DU-NORD
[page break]
FROM
M J. MACKENZIE
JAFFE & SONS LTD
101, PRINCESS ST.
MANCHESTER
ANGLETERRE

[postmark] 20-20-42 Replied 21-10-42

[page break]

29th September 1942

Dear Douglas,

I suppose the script of these few lines will come as a bit of a surprise to you, after not hearing from the old firm for such a long time. If you were to walk into the office now, you would hardly know anybody here, as most of the old staff have joined the forces. Brady, Foulsham (both brothers) Owen are in the R.A.F now stationed in India, and the majority of the others are in the Army or Navy. How do you like life in Algeria, are you fed up with the heat, we could do with some of it [deleted] lose [/deleted] over here, as we have’nt had much this summer. Well Douglas, the members of Jaffe’s contribute each week to fund, the purpose of which is to send comforts to members of our staff who are prisoners of war, or [inserted] on [/inserted] active service.

In this connection, as secretary of the fund, I am sending you 500 cigarettes, “Players Medium”’ I have already sent 250 about two weeks ago, so you ought to be receiving them about the same time that this letter arrives. The other 250, I am dispatching on Thursday next. I should be glad if you would kindly let me know if you would prefer that we send you other things than cigarettes, and I will do my best to see what can be done.

All at 101, join me in wishing you a safe and speedy return, and best wishes for good health and welfare. Yours sincerely. J Mackenzie