As a proud employer of many veterans past and present, and in honor of the Veteran’s Day Holiday, Smith & Loveless is pleased to share Jim’s story reflecting on his military service and recent Honor Flight trip.
Smith & Loveless employee and Vietnam Veteran Jim Armstrong recently took an all expenses paid journey to visit the war memorials in Washington D.C. on behalf to the Kansas Honor Flight Network.
As a proud employer of many veterans past and present, and in honor of the Veteran’s Day Holiday, Smith & Loveless is pleased to share Jim’s story reflecting on his military service and recent Honor Flight trip.
Read the complete story below… and Happy Veteran’s Day to Jim and all our U.S. Veterans from Smith & Loveless and all of its employees!
Pictured above: S&L Industrial Automation Field Engineer Jim Armstrong as he gets on the plane from KC to Washington D.C for his Honor Flight. The Honor Flight Network is an organization that honors U.S. veterans by providing them with all expenses paid trips to visit their war memorials..
Jim’s Story
Jim Armstrong, an industrial Automation Field Engineer at S&L, served in the Navy from 1973 to 1987. As a Nuclear Trained Electrician, he worked on three nuclear U.S. submarines during his tour: the USS Pollack from 1975 to 1978, the USS. Guardfish from 1978 to 1980, and the USS George Washington from 1983 to 85. Jim also worked as a Naval Instructor from 1980 to 1983 in San Diego.
While he spends most of his time nowadays programming S&L EVERLAST™ Pump Stations and PISTA® Grit Removal Systems and serving customers with technical support, Jim used to spend more than 60 days in a row submerged in the middle of the ocean.
Jim recounted the grueling daily challenges of life on submarines:
“They were 18-hour days. You spent six hours standing watch at your watch station, then six hours of maintenance or training or maybe a little free time to watch a movie or something, and then six hours of sleep—if you were lucky and they weren’t running drills during your sleep time or something.” Armstrong explained of his typical day. “Then you’d just get up the next day and do it all over again.”
Many of us can identify with the Groundhog Day effect of the daily grind in different parts of our lives. But now do that submerged underwater 24 hours a day. For 60 days in a row.
Being submerged 24 hours a day certainly made life different. He couldn’t just look outside or at the hands of his watch. So, he had to resort to his sense of smell.
“Is it 6 a.m. or 6 p.m? The only way you know after about a week or so was if they were cooking breakfast” Jim explained. “If they’re making eggs, then you know its morning.”
Yet despite the challenges Jim looks back fondly on his many years on and under the water. He recalled a funny story in 1976 when the USS Pollack submarine accidentally hooked two Japanese fishing boat nets and dragged the boats for many miles. The boats ultimately cut their nets to free themselves and thankfully no one was seriously injured, but it was the big talk on the submarine and at nearby ports and bases for some time.
“We had no idea we were hooked or dragging anything,” Jim chuckled. “And they thought they were being dragged by a whale.”
A highlight of Jim’s Naval career includes decommissioning the USS George Washington, the first U.S. ballistic nuclear submarine that acted as a deterrent to global war on the Soviet coastline and Pacific Ocean for nearly 20 years. He served as the ship’s final Officer of the Deck, who is responsible for controlling the access on and off the submarine. As such, Jim was one of the last servicemen ever on the sub.
Jim remains close to this day with many of his old submarine friends and other local KC submarine officers that served on other ships. In fact, it is through his friends at the U.S. Submarine Veterans Association’s local KC chapter that he found out about the Honor Flights.
The National Honor Flight Network organization honors veterans of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War by providing them with all expenses paid trips to visit their memorials in Washington D.C. The network only recently opened up the flights to Vietnam Veterans in the last 5 years.
Jim was encouraged to apply by other submarine servicemen that had recently taken the trip.
“They went on it, loved it, talked about how neat of an experience it was so I decided to apply.” Jim said.
It wasn’t too long until Jim found out he had been approved and began preparing for his trip to D.C. with more than 60 fellow servicemen from the KC area.
The Honor Flight
Jim and more than 60 fellow KC-area Veterans traveled to Washington D.C. for the Honor Flight on August 28, 2024.
Pictured above: Jim Armstrong and the large group of KC Veterans that traveled to Washington D.C. as part of the Honor Flight network on August 28, 2024, pictured in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
It wasn’t the first time Jim had been to D.C., but it was the first time that he really got to experience the War Memorials and all the sights of the National Mall.
After visiting the Lincoln Memorial, the group headed to the Korean and Vietnam War Memorials.
At the Korean War Memorial, Jim learned many interesting unknown facts about the war, like just how many U.S. soldiers died during the war and how the South Korean Embassy sends a representative to the memorial every single day to honor the U.S. soldiers that perished in defense of their country. Jim says that the Korean War Memorial’s wall of remembrance, which consisted of more than 35,000 names of deceased U.S. soldiers and 7,000 names of deceased Korean Augmentation Soldiers, was one of the highlights of his trip. Even though Jim served in the Vietnam War, Jim spent just as much time at the Korean War Memorial as he did at the Vietnam War Memorial.
“The Korean War is the forgotten war. People don’t really know all the things that happened with that, how many sacrifices the U.S. made. The memorial does a great job explaining all that.” Jim said.
Pictured at left: S&L Employee Jim Armstrong in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Pictured at right: Jim and a chaperone with the Honor Network share stories as they head towards the Korean War Memorial.
At the Vietnam War Memorial, Jim spent a bit of time at each of the site’s three defining features: the Three Soldiers statue, the Vietnam Women’s Memorial and the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Wall, also known as The Wall that Heals.
He explored all of the names of the soldiers that perished during the war at the Vietnam Memorial Wall. The wall is well-known for its reflective surface, which allows visitors the ability to see his reflection at the same time as the names, making it an ideal spot for personal contemplation. Seeing the captivating image firsthand was a moving experience.
Pictured at Left: Statue of U.S. Soldiers at the Vietnam War Memorial. Pictured at Right: S&L Employee Jim Armstrong in front of the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial)
As a Vietnam War Vet, Jim was honored by an active-duty Army Sergeant with a special pin for Vietnam Veterans.
Pictured Above: An active-duty Army Sergeant honors a KC-area vet on the trip with Jim with a special pin for Vietnam War Veterans.
The last stop was Arlington National Cemetery. Even before arriving, Jim was struck by the sheer size of the site.
“When you’re driving through to get there, it’s just unbelievable the number of tombstones.” Jim said. “Just seeing how many people gave their lives. It’s almost overwhelming.”
Once at the cemetery, Jim was able to catch the Changing of the Guard, a symbolic and elaborate ceremony where the military guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier swaps out every hour.
“It was a very moving ceremony, they are so on-point” Jim explained, elaborating: “Their uniforms are immaculate, their precision of movement is unmatched by anything I’ve ever seen. They bestow a lot of honor to those buried there.”
Pictured above: The Changing of the Guard ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. This symbolic military ceremony recognizes the sacrifice of service members buried at the site and their families, every hour on the hour.
After visiting all the memorials and speaking with all the other veterans on the trip, Jim saw his admiration grow even more for those that served alongside him in the military and those who gave their lives in service.
“Being around all the guys that had actually been in combat, guys who had suffered serious injuries… I was in submarines so I never went through anything remotely like that.” Jim explained. “So its changed my perspective a little bit.. to be in the company of people who are genuine heroes.”
After a long day visiting all the sites in D.C.—Jim and his fellow veterans boarded a flight and headed back for Kansas City. But one more surprising scene awaited them.
Pictured above: Friends, family and fellow service members greet the KC Honor Flight recipients upon their return at KCI airport.
When they arrived back in KC, the group was greeted by more than 200 friends, family and fellow service members at KCI airport, including Jim’s wife and daughter (pictured below)
.
Pictured above: S&L Employee Jim Armstrong’s Wife and Daughter welcome him back home at KCI airport after his Honor Flight.
All-in-all, it was a great experience and one that Jim will never forget. He was honored to be recognized for his service and learned a lot during his visit to all the memorials.
From all the employees at Smith & Loveless, we sincerely thank Jim for his service and sharing the story of his Honors flight with us for this Veterans Day. We appreciate all you have done and continue to do for this company and our country!
Happy Veteran’s Day to Jim and all of our U.S. Veterans from Smith & Loveless and all of its employees!