SERGEANT THOMAS ARMSTRONG
CANADIAN INFANTRY
31ST JANUARY 1916 AGE 25
BURIED: KEMMEL CHATEAU MILITARY CEMETERY, BELGIUM
"On the evening of 30/31st January 1916, a party of bombers in conjunction with a number of scouts made a raid on the enemy front line trench. During the raid, Sergeant Armstrong was killed instantly by rifle and machine gun fire."
Canadian Casualty Report
Thomas Armstrong was born in Ayrshire in 1890. In 1914 he was working as a carpenter in Canada when he joined the Canadian Infantry on 24 October 1914. The battalion sailed from Montreal on 29 May 1915, by which time Armstrong had already been promoted corporal. Disembarking in France on 18 September 1815, he was promoted sergeant on 4 January 1916 and killed three weeks later.
Armstrong appears to have been the youngest of his parents' seven children. His eldest sister, Janet, was twenty-three years older than him. His mother signed for his inscription, confessing to a feeling that must have been very common among all parents although seldom voiced.