U.S.S. Oxford AG-159 - Personal Web Page

U.S.S. Oxford AG-159 -- Memories Page

William Letendre, RM2 -- March 1961 - January 1963 (Plank Owner)

OC Division

Strength - Freedom - Security

Important Note:
Click on any thumbnail photo on this page to see a full-size view, then click your browser's BACK button to return to this page.

(contributed by Chet Fortun)

Random notes:

Of the 4 years I spent on active duty in the U.S. Navy from 1959 to 1963, the nearly two years I spent on the U.S.S. Oxford - from pre-commission training in Newport, RI in March 1961, to my honorable discharge in January 1963, were the most memorable of all.

I wasn't big on photography back then as you can see from the dearth of photos below, but I did buy a movie camera during our stay in the Brooklyn Navy Yard specifically for our upcoming 1962 South American cruise. I still have about an hour of 8mm film. Some day when I can get them transferred to DVD, I'll extract more photos and create some AVI clips that I'll post to this page.

Over the years I've never been able to find any useful information about the Oxford except what I could dig out of "Jane's Fighting Ships". I was disheartened when I finally found that the Oxford was de-commissioned in the late 60's. Finding the U.S.S. Oxford web site was like striking gold! Kudos to George Cassidy for his hard work creating and maintaining the Oxford Web Site.

The Oxford's first captain, Commander Howard Lund was a terrific captain during that time and helped make our commissioning crew one of the best the Oxford ever had.

I'm particularly indebted to the U.S. Navy for giving me the training and experience necessary to start me in a life-long career as a computer analyst and programmer. After 45+ years as an IT Professional and Consultant, I'm now retired and living in Scottsdale, Arizona.

I'm thrilled that an official web site is available for former crew members and their families, and I am happy to participate by making my small contribution to this treasure of memories.

Future Plans:

I have about an hour's worth of B&W 8mm movie file I shot during our cruise. About half of it was made in Rio. I'd like to convert those films to DVD format and, using my computer, edit out snippits that I'll turn into YouTube-type videos to add to this page. This stuff takes a long time to do so don't hold your breath.

Download a PDF version of Oxford's
first 1962 South American cruise book.
Click on the cover link to the right:

Memorabilia
These are selected pages from the official 1962 U.S.S. Oxford AG-159 Cruise Book - our first. Pages include a highlight of the ports visited during the cruise along with Captain Lund's message to the crew; there's my division - the OC Division; and various activities aboard the ship.
		OC Division
Bingo night; I won the top jackpot of $60 for covering the entire card in 65 called numbers. That's me to the right of the "non-conformist" in the bottom right-hand photo.	Radioman "Pete" Raymond, and Radioman Chief Dahlquist	Oxford's first official Pollywog Day
	Oxford's first official Shellback Day
Someone managed to grab a local newspaper in one of the ports we visited during our 1962 Cruise:

William Letendre, Radioman --- U.S.S. Oxford - circa 1962

		with J.B. Bock
Here's some of the funniest cartoons I saved from the ship's daily newspaper. The strips were entitled "From the Land of OZ". The two photos on the right need a little explanation. The top of the pair parodies our "crooked" docking in one of the ports on our 1962 South American cruise; I think it was Recife. The bottom one makes fun of the obsession we had with tying "Monkey Fists" (decorative knots) and canvassing most of the railings on the ship. In the photo of me below, I'm "knotting" and "canvassing" all the railings leading out from the aft of the radio shack deck, both up and down. Yes folks, that's my handiwork!


Someone penned a poem during our Havana, Cuba patrol just before the Cuban Missile Crisis hit. There's my official RM2 Certificate. And various wallet-size cards for dubious achievements while aboard the Oxford.
U.S.S. Oxford (Un)Official Poem	Proud to make RM2	Dubious Achievements

My original Plank Owner and Shellback Certificates

William Letendre 2008

Don't forget - you can click on any photo for a supersized view!

Here's a crew photo courtesy of Pete Raymond, RM2: (where am I!!)

l to r: Joe Brett, Otto Wendt, Dave Gresham,
Pete Raymond, Jim O'Dell,

Chief Dahlquest (standing)

Here's another photo -- Charles Sturgill RM8, ...then, and now...:

And here's Chet Fortun -- ...then, and now....:

Me and Pete Raymond:

Guantanamo - 1962

Reunion - 42 years later - 2004 in Florida

Email me personally: wletendre@cox.net

I'd be interested in hearing from any of the following original-commissioning-crew Radioman members of the OC Division who served with me:

Chief Dahlquist

Charles Sturgill - Contacted: Emailed me on 8/16/2003

Pete Raymond - Contacted: Emailed me on 5/17/2002

C.P. Fortun - Contacted: Emailed me on 11-1-2007

Fred Marquardt - Might be on Facebook; won't respond to email

Joe B. Bock

Joe Brett

Eugene Nelson

L. M. Mosier

Otto Wendt - Contacted: Email - about 6/1/2002; Phone 5/2008

Lt. Robert Elwood - Contacted: Email - about March 2009; Phone: April 2009

...and the following Radioman crew members who came on board after commissioning:

Dave Gresham

John William Cody (In Our Memory -- 1940-1969)

Jim O'Dell - Contacted: Emailed me on 9-28-09 - Lives nearby in AZ; phone 9-30-09

I would also like to hear from Radioman crew members who came aboard the Oxford after I left in January of 1963 and might know the whereabouts of any of the above crew members.

More U.S.S. Oxford information can be found at these links:

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive website

USS Oxford AG-159/AGTR-1 (USS Oxford II)

U.S.S. Oxford "Specifications"

Return to the official U.S.S. Oxford Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/~USS_OXFORD/