August 21, 2008

To Mr. Bill Anderson

Let me introduce myself to you. My name is Andrew Martinez and I am writing to you regarding my father who was stationed aboard the USS Santa Fe.

I just found your web page recently and mentioned it to my father who served in WWII on the USS Santa Fe. I asked him if he wanted me to add his name to your member list and he said yes.

His name is Jesus Torres Martinez, born in Colton, CA on March 5, 1921, 1st class fire control man on the USS Santa Fe.

After graduating from Ventura Junior college in Ventura California  in 1942 he joined the Navy before being drafted and went to Chicago for training that summer. After that was completed he went to San Diego for training at "Destroyer Base". Without looking at records, he believes that he joined the USS Santa Fe in Long Beach during the winter of 1942-43. After the war he went back to school and graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. After graduation he went back into the Navy for the Korean war and was stationed up in Seattle at the shipyards in Bremerton, WA. After his service in the Korean war he moved to Carpenteria, CA and worked for the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital as a electrician. After 30 years of loyal employment, he decided to retire and has been retired since 1986. Since then he has legally changed his name to Jess instead of Jesus. He is retired and lives in Santa Barbara, California now.

Please let me know if you would like any more information about him, I would be happy to forward it to you. We have some pictures of him during his time aboard the Santa Fe, but he usually brings out the yearbook that was created for the crew and officers to show to friends and family. Unfortunately he has lost touch with all of his fellow sailors over the years and doesn't keep up with the alumni associations.

Thanks for your time!

All the best,

Andrew Martinez
Santa Barbara, CA

Hello Mr. Shovlin & Mr. Anderson,

I just returned from a short visit to my Dad's house and took a quick 
picture of my Dad's old navy picture. I belive it was taken in 1942 
but I'm not exactly sure. I'll send you a more recent picture in the 
following email. My dad wishes he could have gone to the reunion in 
Branson; maybe next year?

Andrew Martinez   August 28, 2008