Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Joseph Stephenson ARMSTRONG 2788

Joseph Armstrong enlisted on July 8, 1915 at the age of 21 at the Bendigo Recruitment Centre. Both parents were deceased, having passed away in 1911 and 1912 respectively. He lists his NOK 'nearest of kin' as his sister Myrtle who lived at the family home at 33 McCrae St.

His mother was Emma and his father Joseph Wilkinson Armstrong was a ganger on the railways. Joseph junior would find his father’s body after he failed to return from a Sunday afternoon call out to clear an obstruction on the Heathcote railway line at Wellsford Rifle range not far White Hills in 1912.

On enlisting, Joseph listed ‘coach painter’ as his occupation  and stated he had completed a 5 year apprenticeship with Bendigo Sannerman and son’s coach builders.

Headquarters of the 14th Battalion was at the Broadmeadows Camp where the battalion's recruits, principally from Melbourne and its suburbs, were taken on strength and trained. Along with the 13th, 15th and 16th Battalions, the 14th formed the 4th Brigade commanded by Colonel John Monash.

When Joseph signed on in July 1915, the 14th Battalion troops were already fighting their way up the cliffs of the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. The 9th reinforcements for the 14th battalion would embark on September 24,1915 on HMAT Hororata, arriving in Egypt fortunately too late to be sent into the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign.  

The 14th suffered greatly at Gallipoli and on withdrawal the battalion returned to Egypt. While there, the AIF expanded and was reorganised. Joseph would spend over 8 months in Egypt at the Anzac camp at Tel el Kebir, near Ismailia, on the Suez Canal, Egypt. 

In June 1916 the 14th Battalion sailed for France arriving at Marseilles on June 3 and into the trenches of the Western Front.

From then until 1918, the battalion took part in bloody trench warfare. Joseph's casualty record shows him being hospitalised on July 21, 1916 with appendicitis at the British depot town of Estaples in Northern France.

He would rejoin his unit on August 12 towards the end of battalion’s first major action in France which was at Pozieres.

The Australian official historian Charles Bean wrote that Pozières ridge "is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth."

“After twelve days in the line, the AIF 4th division had suffered 6,848 casualties. The Australians had suffered as many losses in the Battle for Pozières in six weeks as they had in the Gallipoli Campaign.

Private Armstrong is promoted to temporary Corporal soon after the Pozieres battle and placed on the Officer Supernumerary list.

He would again be admitted to Hospital late in September coming into contact with Diphtheria. Seven days later he was discharged.

During April 1917, the 14th took part in the fighting around Bullecourt. In early 1918, the 14th battalion undertook a defensive role, helping to turn back the German Spring Offensive before taking part in the Allied Hundred Days Offensive, which was launched around Amiens in August 1918. 

However, Corporal Armstrong was obviously showing leadership potential and is sent from the battlefields of France and to report to Admin Headquarters back in London on July 23, 1918. He has been selected to attend Infantry Cadet course back in England. 
 
On arriving back in the United Kingdom in August 1918 he is transferred to Kinmel Park at Bodelwyddan in Wales. The Kinmel Camp was an army training ground in what was once the grounds of Kinmel Hall, near Abergele, in Conwy county borough, Wales. Following the end of the war in 1919, the Kinmel camp would see major riots by Canadian troops who were frustrated by their slow rate of return to Canada due to non availability of troop ships.
 
Not wasting much time, Joseph now aged 24,would meet and marry a local girl in Carolyn Evans age 22 on November 23, 1918 just a few weeks after the war armistice had been signed. They are married just 7 miles from the camp at St Asaph’s cathedral, at Denbigh, a glove making town in Wales.
 
On January 3, 1919 Joseph was appointed second Lieutenant on probation and a month later is sent back to France to undertake officer duties at the Australian infantry base at Rouelles. On February 13, he is one of twelve second Lieutenants who are marched into base on this day. On that date there are 133 officers and 2229 soldiers of other ranks still at the AIF base in France.

He would return to England and his new wife on April 15, 1919.     
 
In waiting to return to Australia, the army would grant Joseph three months 'military employment' leave to pursue training in the motor industry in the Welsh seaside town of Carnarvon.

His employer would write
‘this is to certify that Lieut Armstrong has been with us three months learning the motor business. He has always shown himself eager to learn and he has now good grasp of the workings, repairing and maintaining. His conduct was good’.  
Mr S.T Barnes                                                                             Market st,                                                                           Carnarvon, Wales.

Whilst most members of the AIF would begin the long journey home in late 1918, and early 1919, Lieutenant Joseph Armstrong would not embark for Australia until January 1920. He would gain a passage on the HT Magentic out of Liverpool arriving in Melbourne on February 20,1920. His military record does not show whether his new wife Carolyn accompanied him.

His service with the AIF would be terminated on June 11, 1920. He would in later years receive all three military medals including the ‘military star’ issued to those who served in 1915.

Joseph Stephenson Armstrong is remembered by the people of White Hills. The names of the local lads who sacrificed their lives and those that were fortunate to return from the Great War are shown on the embossed copper plaques on the White Hills Arch of Triumph, at the entrance to the Botanic Gardens. Joseph’s name is the first listed.