John Squire ARMSTRONG

John Squire ARMSTRONG Update Details

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ARMSTRONG, John Squire

Service Number:	5781
Enlisted:	1 May 1916
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	20th Infantry Battalion
Born:	Delegate, New South Wales, Australia, December 1893
Home Town:	Ryde, Ryde, New South Wales
Schooling:	Greig's Flat Public School,New South Wales, Australia
Occupation:	Labourer
Died:	Killed in Action, Belgium, 20 September 1917
Cemetery:	No known grave - "Known Unto God" The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 23), Belgium, Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium
Memorials:	Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient)

World War 1 Service

1 May 1916:	Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 5781, 20th Infantry Battalion
7 Oct 1916:	Involvement Private, 5781, 20th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: ''
7 Oct 1916:	Embarked Private, 5781, 20th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ceramic, Sydney

Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board

The name included on the Honour Board is J S ARMSTRONG (Service Number 5781). Taking this to be John Squires Armstrong, and there is no other J S Armstrong in the National Archives listing of those who served in World War I, there is no reason to justify the presence of the name on the Board as no record of him working for the NSW Railways can be found. A search of the Employment record cards does however reveal the name of John Hutchinson ARMSTRONG, born 14 November 1895, and who has some clerical claim to have died in World War I, even if only momentarily. J H Armstrong commenced work with the NSW Railways as a shop boy at Eveleigh Loco in February 1914. He was given leave to join the Expeditionary Forces on 1 May 1916. In an entry dated 20 September 1917, Armstrong is recorded as Killed in Action, though this entry is struck out, with a note beside it ‘confused with another man’. Presumably this other man is John Squire Armstrong, who did die on active service.
J H Armstrong served with the AIF for the duration of the war and returned to Australia in 1919, resuming his railway career on 15 September. He remained at Eveleigh in the saw mill as a saw sharpener, though he was dismissed after being found building a radio set as a foreign order in paid time. He successfully appealed this dismissal.
In some ways the name of John Hutchinson Armstrong is irrelevant to the story of the Honour Board as it does not appear there. The name that does appear is erroneous. However, the confusion of similar names, the outrageous correction to the record card, and the explanation of the absence of Armstrong from the Honour Roll requires comment.
(NAA B2455-3035584) (NAA B2455-3035588)

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