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Frank Hugh Armstrong
Information about birth
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Date of birth: 07/09/1889 |
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Place of birth: Charters Towers, Queensland, Australia |
General information
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Last known residence: Luke Street, Charters Towers, Queensland, Australia |
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Profession: Labourer |
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Religion: Church of England |
Army information
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Country: Australia |
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Force: Australian Imperial Force |
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Rank: Sapper |
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Service number: 5278 |
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Enlistment date: 24/03/1916 |
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Enlistment place: Charters Towers, Queensland, Australia |
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Units: — Australian Tunnelling Corps, 1st Coy. (Last known unit) |
Information about death
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Date of death: 01/10/1917 |
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Place of death: Glencorse Wood, Zonnebeke, Belgium |
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Cause of death: Killed in action (K.I.A.) |
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Age: 28 |
Memorial
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Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial Panel: 7 Q |
Distinctions and medals 2
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British War Medal Medal |
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Victory Medal Medal |
Points of interest 4
| #1 | Place of birth | ||
| #2 | Last known residence | ||
| #3 | Enlistment place | ||
| #4 | Place of death (approximate) |
My story
Frank Armstrong was born in 1889. He was the son of Thomas and Eliza Jane Armstrong of Charters Towers, Queensland. Frank worked as a labourer before enlisting in March 1916. At the end of the year, the 27-year-old went overseas. In February, Frank was taken on by the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company in France. After a long bout of illness, he was only able to rejoin his unit on 18 September 1917, on the eve of the Battle of Menin Road, while the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company was building a deep tunnel system at Hooge Crater. Works captured by Australian war photographer Frank Hurley.
After the capture of Polygon Wood on 26 September 1917 by the 5th Australian Division, the Germans were pushed back to the heights to the south and east, still circling Polygon Wood. The next objective was to capture the heights of Broodseinde on the Passchendaele ridge, north-east of Polygon Wood.
The Australian tunnellers began building dugouts on the newly captured ground, of which a huge dugout under the Westhoek ridge required much of the 1st Company's time and resources. Another important area of work for the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company was at the Butte in Polygon Wood, this pre-war butt of a firing range had been excavated and tunnelled by the Germans and housed command and aid posts. The tunnellers worked on repairing and modifying the complex with scarce resources in dangerous conditions.
On 1 October 1917, eight sappers of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company were killed in action, five of whom are chiseld on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing. A ration party, of which Frank was a member, went missing overnight on the duckboard tracks along the Menin Road near Hooge. No trace of them was found and it is unclear what happened to them. According to a post-war testimony by Corporal Wyman of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company, it was believed Frank had been trapped in a dugout with sappers Spence and Skillen, with whom he was last seen. Sapper Daniel Hugh McKinley, who was also killed at Hooge on 1 October 1917, has a known grave in Hooge Crater Cemetery. His remains were exhumed from a provisional burial site on Bellewaerde Ridge. Whatever the case, Frank, who had just turned 28, has no known grave to this day and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.
According to a statement by Lt Vineycombe of the 15th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, the remains of sapper James Skillen were found on the night of 2 and 3 October 1917, when the 15th Durham was digging in east of Glencorse Wood. Skillen was buried in a shell hole about 150 yards east of Glencorse Wood, 100 yards north of the track leading from Clapham Junction and 30 yards east of a 'large German machine gun emplacement'. Another Australian lying nearby could not be identified or buried because of the relentless shelling. Skillen's grave was not marked with a cross because there was no wood available. Lt Vineycombe shared the location of the grave with AIF headquarters, but Skillen's grave was either lost or his remains were not identified when he was exhumed and, like Frank Armstrong, James Skillen has no known grave.
Either way, Frank Armstrong, who had just turned 28, is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.
After the capture of Polygon Wood on 26 September 1917 by the 5th Australian Division, the Germans were pushed back to the heights to the south and east, still circling Polygon Wood. The next objective was to capture the heights of Broodseinde on the Passchendaele ridge, north-east of Polygon Wood.
The Australian tunnellers began building dugouts on the newly captured ground, of which a huge dugout under the Westhoek ridge required much of the 1st Company's time and resources. Another important area of work for the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company was at the Butte in Polygon Wood, this pre-war butt of a firing range had been excavated and tunnelled by the Germans and housed command and aid posts. The tunnellers worked on repairing and modifying the complex with scarce resources in dangerous conditions.
On 1 October 1917, eight sappers of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company were killed in action, five of whom are chiseld on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing. A ration party, of which Frank was a member, went missing overnight on the duckboard tracks along the Menin Road near Hooge. No trace of them was found and it is unclear what happened to them. According to a post-war testimony by Corporal Wyman of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company, it was believed Frank had been trapped in a dugout with sappers Spence and Skillen, with whom he was last seen. Sapper Daniel Hugh McKinley, who was also killed at Hooge on 1 October 1917, has a known grave in Hooge Crater Cemetery. His remains were exhumed from a provisional burial site on Bellewaerde Ridge. Whatever the case, Frank, who had just turned 28, has no known grave to this day and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.
According to a statement by Lt Vineycombe of the 15th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, the remains of sapper James Skillen were found on the night of 2 and 3 October 1917, when the 15th Durham was digging in east of Glencorse Wood. Skillen was buried in a shell hole about 150 yards east of Glencorse Wood, 100 yards north of the track leading from Clapham Junction and 30 yards east of a 'large German machine gun emplacement'. Another Australian lying nearby could not be identified or buried because of the relentless shelling. Skillen's grave was not marked with a cross because there was no wood available. Lt Vineycombe shared the location of the grave with AIF headquarters, but Skillen's grave was either lost or his remains were not identified when he was exhumed and, like Frank Armstrong, James Skillen has no known grave.
Either way, Frank Armstrong, who had just turned 28, is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.
Sources 5
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Australian Red Cross Wounded and missing Enquiry Bureau (Australian War Memorial, Campbell (AWM), RCDIG1018609). https://www.awm.gov.au/ Sources used |
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Australian Red Cross Wounded and missing Enquiry Bureau (Australian War Memorial, Campbell (AWM), RCDIG1058773). https://www.awm.gov.au/ Sources used |
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Finlayson Damien, Crumps and camouflets : Australian Tunnelling Companies on the Western Front (Newport, Big Sky, 2010), 239-252. Sources used |
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First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920 (National Archives of Australia, Canberra (NAA), B2455, ARMSTRONG F). https://www.naa.gov.au/ Sources used |
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Unit embarkation nominal rolls, 1914-18 War (Australian War Memorial, Campbell (AWM), AWM8). https://www.awm.gov.au/ Sources used |
More information 4
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Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1597440 |
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Namenlijst (In Flanders Fields Museum) https://namenlijst.org/publicsearch/#/person/_id=2bcec837-c4e7-4aa3-949c-1666f339c706 |
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Lives of the First World War (Imperial War Museum) https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/7343989 |
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The AIF Project (UNSW Canberra) https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=7229 |