Amanuensis Monday - letter from Bill Hudson to Peggy November 26th, 1941

My grandfather Bill Hudson worked as a prison officer in Hong Kong from 1921 to 1941. He was still in Hong Kong in December of 1941 when the Japanese invaded and occupied the colony. My grandmother Peg and my father Peter had been evacuated to Australia in July 1940. Peg kept the last couple of letters Bill wrote from Hong Kong prior to the Japanese invasion, along with the letters he wrote immediately after liberation.

Most of the letters are long, so I'm going to serialise them over the next few weeks.


This is the second letter - the first starts here - and was written on 26 November 1941, less than two weeks before the Japanese invaded.


Page 1
Page 2 is here

Page 3 is here

Page 4 is here

No 8, Wednesday 26.11.41
F Flat, Government Qrs, Arbuthnot Rd.


Sweetheart,


3 letters from you, they arrived on Monday 24th numbers 6, 7 and 8, written on November 9th, 12th and 16th. Well I am still living at Stanley, but I am afraid I must go to V.G. soon, as I must be on call most of the time. Bud finished yesterday, so I have been on all alone today. Actually I had not a lazy day. I hate to go and live with anybody else, especially in that old dump, I will miss my own home love, and I find out that he will not be going before Monday, so I want to stick out as long as I can here.  I guess this will not be a very long letter, and don't be surprised if Willie does not write you this Sunday, you will understand why. I have not seen M.G. to tell him what Ada is doing, as I leave here every morning on the 7.30 van, and catch the 5pm bus back.


I expect I'll see him over the weekend, so I will tell him all about what Ada is buying. I know he is taking the two easy chairs down, and all cutlery, glass and pots and pans, so tell her not to buy a lot of those things. 


The Lads at V.R.P. gave Bud a dinner party last night, so they asked me to go, old boasting Cockeye turned up he was not asked, and he was tight when he turned up. He is a low minded beast, and I am sure there is something wrong with him down below.


He was boasting about how he had worked his leave, of how he had the Government by the way he had applied, but little does he know that Bud had told how he had typed all of Cockeye's applications even to him drawing a month's pay in advance