(to a cousin in the U.S.A., whom he had never met)
Brev 8 og brev 9 var skrevet på engelsk og jeg har ikke oversatt dem til norsk. Dette skaper litt forvirring i linkene, men benytt linken øverst til venstre for å komme tilbake til den norske brevlisten. M/T Thorshov, November 4-1944 (in New York). My Dear Grace. Thank you very much for your very interesting letter which I received from you when I was in Africa. Very truly yours, For background history, go to
My father wrote this in English, and I've left it unchanged.
It was very kind of you to write me. Your letter were dated 6/4-41. I wrote you at once, but I don't think you have got my letter because it was very difficult to get any letter through the censor that time. I was interned a long time, had little and bad food. The last three months before the American came, I was in a consentration camp 350 miles south of Oran. It was a terrible place in the desert, sun and sand and of course very hot, so I was very glad to get out of it. I was working for the American Navy for some time, but later as a Norwegian I had to join a Norwegian ship, and since then I have been sailing all about. I am now onboard a Norwegian oil tanker. We use to have 14 days in the Atlantic and two-three days in port, so we are almost always at sea. But it is all the same to me. I hope the war soon is over, so I can be able to send a letter home and get an answer without any German interference.
You told me you were working in a Carnegie Public Library, but I suppose you had to quit the job for the benefit of war production, if so I think you will be able to get your job back again as soon as the war is over if you wish to.
I should like to visit you in Dell Rapids and uncle John too, but I have not got time enough to do so, I am probably going to pay off in an American port some time after Christmas, and then I will be glad to visit my friends (it would be another year and a half before he could finally go home).
My twin sister and I was born in 1918. My sister is married and live in Norway. My other sisters are older than I, except one. She is 19 year old. I have two brothers, both past thirty.
As you may know, my father passed away in February 1942, 62 year old (I think he's mistaken here, Conrad died January 6-1943 as far as I know). I have not been home since 1937. I feel a little lonesome occasionally, but having plenty of work and much to learn, I am too much occupied to feel homesick, and find the life and my job very interesting.
I wrote your mother when I was in Philadelphia for some days ago, I hope she has got my letter.
We are now laying in New York only for a night. When I get more time, I will write you a longer letter. I would appreciate hearing from you and your family. Wishing you the best of health, and complete happiness.
Odd Conrad Holm
M/T Thorshov. The Norwegian Shipping and Trade Mission. New York. N.Y
List of Odd's letters
Odd Conrad Holm and the links below.