Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1958 Lucky Bag:

ALEXANDER PHILLIPS LONGDON, JR.

“I’m telling you, gang, Florida’s the greatest place in the whole world.” Could a certain southern belle have had something to do with that? Phil was always a devout worshiper of the “God of 2.5,” and this combined with some hard work and a lot of sweat pulled him through. Dago was his nemesis, and great was his relief when he bade farewell to that Department. Easy to get along with and a true friend, Phil will have no trouble in his future Naval career.

Loss

Alexander was lost on September 14, 1962 when his F8U Crusader collided with an Air National Guard F86 Sabre near Dallas. He was a member of Marine All Weather Fighter Squadron (VMF(AW)) 235. The other pilot was also lost.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

When his father was head of the 20th Century Fox office, Alexander lived in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1953 he graduated from Mainland High in Daytona Beach, Florida, and was married there in December 1959.

In the summer of 1957, Alexander and his brother Robert were both participating in the U. S. Navy Summer cruise Alpha. Alexander was on USS Macon, and Robert, NROTC at Duke, was on the Iowa. They both visited Rio de Janeiro; Santos, Brazil; Trinidad; Puerto Rico; and Cuba.

Alexander married Joyce Louise Russell on December 27, 1959, at the Central Baptist Church in Daytona Beach. She was a classmate of Alexander at Mainland High School.

His wife pinned on his wings at Chase Field Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Beeville in October 1960.

He was then transferred to the Marine Corps Air Station at Beaufort, South Carolina.

He is buried in South Carolina.

Photographs

From The Daytona Beach News Journal on July 15, 1955

From the Daytona Beach Morning Journal on May 13, 1958

From the Daytona Beach Morning Journal on March 24, 1959

From his 1952 high school yearbook