James Blair Armstrong

James Blair Armstrong
James Blair Armstrong was born in Kenmore on March 19, 1918 and completed his life's journey on March 8, 2011. He attended Immaculate Conception Parish, Kenmore High School, and worked for General Tire. In January, 1942 he enlisted in the Army. At Fort McClellan, Alabama he met and married Eulene Vick, a redheaded Army nurse from Bankston, Alabama who he affectionately referred to as "Rebel". In June, 1944 he shipped out with the 91st Division for Italy. 1st Lt. Armstrong returned from Italy with the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and very proudly, with the men of the 3rd Battalion, the Presidential Unit Citation. In April, 1945 he lost his right foot to a German mine. As he would later tell Stars and Stripes, "we weren't heroes, we just tried to do the best job we could." He and Eulene returned to Akron and General Tire in 1946. In a long and happy life together they lived in the same house in Ellet for 67 years, raised two sons, James (wife Barbara) and Charles (Wife Judy). In 1980 he retired from General Tire after 40 years of service. His "Army" leg would always inspire and confound. No one ever heard him complain about his loss, nor did he see it as a limitation. For a Beacon Journal interview in 2005, he smiled, slipped off his "Army" leg, and posed with it next to his stump. He was a founding member of Charles Reymann Council of the Knights of Columbus and an early Grand Knight. He was active in his church, St. Matthew, for more than 50 years. He lived to see his four grandchildren (Ellen, Scott, Marc, and Julie) graduate from college, marry, and make him a very proud great-grandfather of three (Mayah, Jimmy, and Coral). Each of the grandchildren found a special relationship with him - Ellen the computer consultant, Scott the most generous and handy, Marc and politics, and "fellow leftie" Julie who supplied the great-grandchildren. In the process he and Eulene attended 4,137 soccer, baseball, football, and basketball games, school plays, graduations, and concerts. He watched and discussed MTV with his teenage grandchildren, demonstrating the patience, understanding and wisdom his sons had never before seen. He walked the golf course until his mid-80s, hit a hole-in-one, and saw the Indians win a World Series. He would always point out that Eulene outranked him, always had. "She made 1st Lt. before I did too." At 86 he bought his first computer so that he could e-mail his grandchildren, confessing that "I had forgotten a lot of my typing since I was in the Army." He e-mailed his family to the end, managing quite well without Spellcheck. In 2005, he returned to Italy for ceremonies celebrating the Allied Victory 60 years earlier. When asked to lay the honorary wreath, he would quip, "I have been chewed out by Generals before, but never escorted by one." Last July he and his four year old great-granddaughter, Mayah led off his grandson Marc's wedding - she was the flower girl and he did the first reading. Let's let him have the last words: "No tears, please. We have had a good, long life with lots of love from those we held most dear. Raise your glass and say: Well done, old soldiers. Love to all." Family and friends may call on Sunday from 4-7 p.m. at NEWCOMER FUNERAL HOME, 131 N. Canton Rd. Prayers will be at the funeral home on Monday at 10:15 a.m. followed by an 11 a.m. funeral mass at St. Matthew Catholic Church. Interment at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Disabled American Veterans, Gift Processing, PO Box 14301, Cincinnati, OH 45250-0301.