ARMSTRONG, Horace William Hammond
| Service Number: | WX10534 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 21 December 1940, Claremont, Western Australia |
| Last Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | General / Motor Transport Company/ies (WW2) |
| Born: | York, Western Australia, 8 January 1911 |
| Home Town: | Perth, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Cartage contractor |
| Died: | Aircraft accident, Mossman, Queensland, Mossman, Queensland, Australia, 7 September 1944, aged 33 years |
| Cemetery: |
Cairns War Cemetery, Queensland Plot A Row E Grave 1, Cairns Cemetery, Cairns, Queensland, Australia |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Kings Park Western Australia State War Memorial, Lieut. Armstrong Memorial Chair, Victoria Park RSL Cenotaph |
World War 2 Service
| 21 Dec 1940: | Enlisted WX10534, Claremont, Western Australia | |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Dec 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lieutenant, WX10534, General / Motor Transport Company/ies (WW2) | |
| 7 Sep 1944: | Involvement Lieutenant, WX10534, General / Motor Transport Company/ies (WW2) |
Help us honour Horace William Hammond Armstrong's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of Harry George and Alice Jane Armstrong, husband of Dorothy May Armstrong, of Victoria Park, Western Australia
Biography contributed by Geoff Tilley
Horace William Hammond Armstrong was born 8th January 1911 at York, Western Australia to parents Harry George Armstrong and Alice Jane Hubble. There were five siblings from the marriage.
Horace’s father joined the Western Australian Bushmen and fought during the Boer War in Africa, also serving in the Great War.
In 1935 Horace married a Dorothy May Elkington where they had three sons, working as a carpenter then as a truck driver.
Horace first enlisted into the Citizen Military Force (CMF) in August 1940 assigned to a Transport Training Depot. He was discharged from the CMF, enlisting into the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.) in December 1940.
He was originally attached to the 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion, before being transferred to the Service Corps.
At the time of enlistment, he was living in Victoria Park working as a cartage contractor.
It was on the 7th September 1944 that Horace was a passenger with twenty other people on a Royal Netherlands East Indies Air Force Dakota C47 aircraft departing Merauka air base in Dutch New Guinea bound for Cairns.
It was in the late afternoon the Dakota was on approach to Cairns and experiencing bad weather when it radioed the tower stating they would be landing in 10 minutes.
No further radio communication was heard from the Dakota.
With the aircraft overdue it was believed the Dakota had crashed into the sea off Cairns.
An extensive search was conducted and with no trace of the plane located, the search was called off after three weeks.
It was not until 45 years later in January 1989 that an expedition from the Australian New Zealand Scientific Exploration Society collecting plant specimens on mountain peaks north west of Mossman Queensland located aircraft wreckage.
A recovery mission was conducted to retrieve the remains of the twenty passengers along with many personal items amongst the Dakota crash debris.
It was on 29th July 1989 the remains of the twenty crash victims were laid to rest in a large single grave in the Cairns War Cemetery.
Lieutenant Horace William Hammond Armstrong, service number WX10534 of 157 General Transport Company was killed on service on 7th September 1944. He was 33 years of age.
He is remembered with honour.
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