An American fan of the Oxford Mail has been in touch to share a treasured copy of the newspaper given to him by his father which commemorates the Queen’s coronation of 1953.

Doug Strubbe, from Port Hope, Michigan, has an Oxford Mail that hit the news-stand on June 2 1953 when his father was stationed at RAF Brize Norton.

He said: “I do believe he kept that issue due to the once in most people’s lifetimes event that had taken place - it wasn’t just another news day.

“He brought the paper back home to Cincinnati, Ohio, as a souvenir. I remember seeing it as a child but not really understanding the historical significance of it.”

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Mr Strubbe said he has read the newspaper “from front to back a few times over”.

The few stories unrelated to the Coronation include Oxon and Berks Bowling Notes by R. J. Room, Motorcyclist Fined at Bicester and Oxford Club fined by Proctors.

But most of the issue is Coronation “heavy” with some fascinating pictures, he said.

The USAF formally accepted control of RAF Brize Norton on April 16 1951 before the Royal Air Force took back control on April 1 1965.

Mr Strubbe said he was unsure about his father's precise role on the base.

He recalled: “The base went from RAF control to USAF (Europe) in about 1950 and then control was transferred to Strategic Air Command arm of USAF in 1952 - I believe this to be accurate.

“According to the memoirs of my father, he was attached to a special weapons unit at Brize Norton while it was under Strategic Air Command control and, not surprising since it was a SAC base, I have no unit number, wing number… nothing."

He added: “I am not saying that his role was classified but a lot of SAC information still is to this day.

“All he ever told me was that he was a Staff Sergeant in the USAF and the bases he was stationed at - Brize Norton being one of them.

"Anything else I’ve had to connect the dots myself, so to speak."

Mr Strubbe said his father spoke fondly of his time in England and enjoyed the “Brits” uncanny knack for the understatement and sarcasm.

The Oxford Mail is currently moving offices so we asked him not to send the physical copy – but we said we would immortalise it in an article about it and its journey.

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Mr Strubbe, who is a heating and cooling service technician, said he got in touch “because I’m 60 and not 40, I’m closer to the end than the beginning.

“I wanted to make sure that it was left in good hands and, quite frankly, I couldn’t think of a better recipient than the Oxford Mail.

"If your paper was defunct then another suitable destination in England would have been found. Getting it back to England was always the end game."

He added that he and wife Jeannette would love to visit Britain.

“Six more years and I’ll collect retirement benefits from ‘Uncle Sam’. I have always wanted to get over there… it’s still on the bucket list.”