VETERAN SALUTE: Serving under the sea

TOPEKA (KSNT) – Raised in land-locked Kansas, Jeff Landers never suspected he would be working on a submarine for months on end. Before joining the Navy, he had yet to even see the ocean, but his sense of duty would put him in that position, during the Cold War era.

Growing up in Junction City, Jeff signed up for the military just 4 days after graduation.

“I kinda ran with guys older than me,” Landers said. “Several of them went over to Vietnam, and didn’t come back. That got me thinking I wanted to help out in some way.”

Moving out of basic training really set the stage for the intense challenges that would lie ahead for Jeff.

“When I got up to submarine school, our class started out at maybe 150 people,” he said, “35 or 40 of us graduated out of that 150. That’s where I realized why they needed so many, because that was tough.” 

Part of “A” Division, Jeff’s job on the sub revolved around maintenance and engineering work.

“We basically fixed anything that needed repaired that wasn’t electrical – air, hydraulics, water,” Landers said. “I was in charge of all the damage control equipment. We worked 12 hours on 12 hours off, didn’t know day or night. 

His first experience under the sea was quite memorable, sticking with the Machinist Mate still to this day.

“You have just pages and pages of things that are broken and need fixed and repaired,” he said. “Then you’d take them out for 12 – 13 days of sea trials to see if all your repairs were going to work. When it goes down then you are thinking, ‘did I fix this right?’ You’ve got 126 fellow crewmen that you depended on, did they fix this right? That got me to thinking, if something didn’t get fixed right the whole thing could go under.” 

Working on the USS Lewis and Clark, a Fleet Ballistic Missile Sub, Jeff made seven patrols during his time in the military. With each patrol lasting 78 days in a row, combined with the weeks of prep, he spent over 630 days underwater.

“I just wanted to do something to help out, to end that war,” he said. “To this day I feel good about my part of helping in whatever small way, getting that war to an end. The submarines were just out there as a deterrent to help with that, they knew we could blow them off the map if the war would have escalated. I just felt like I helped in some way.” 

Jeff is staying busy even in retirement with the American Legion in Topeka, where he serves as a member of the Honor Guard.