SAPPER WG ARMSTRONG
ROYAL ENGINEERS
25TH APRIL 1915 AGE 21
BURIED: YPRES TOWN CEMETERY EXTENSION, BELGIUM
Sapper Armstrong came from Oakenshaw, a small colliery village in Co. Durham. His mother was a widow. I think I've found him in the census: his Christian names were William George, the same as his father. His father was a miner and William George, the son, was quite possibly one too. I hope the Joseph Robert Armstrong killed in a mining accident at the colliery - crushed by a pit wagon - was no relation, but in a small community it's likely that he was.
William Armstrong was killed in April 1915. In 1919 his body was disinterred from its orginal grave and reburied in Ypres Town Cemetery Extension. It wouldn't have been until at least then that Mrs Armstrong was asked to finalise her choice of inscription, probably later. Her son had been dead more than four years, but as she was happy to declare for all to read, 'We still love him dearly'.