Roderick Avondale Armstrong

Submitted by Mt Kembla Minin... on Tue, 14/03/2017 - 13:10

First Name:

Roderick

Middle Name:

Avondale

Last Name:

Armstrong

Date of Birth:

Friday, May 10, 1901

Mother's Name:

Martha Armstrong nee Cheney

Father's Name:

John Armstrong

Date Enlisted:

Sunday, January 21, 1917

Rank at Enlistment:

Private

Rank at Discharge:

Private

Unit:

35th Battalion

Company:

Service:

Infantry

Date of Death:

Tuesday, October 21, 1975

Place of Death:

Concord Hospital, Concord, N.S.W.

Details:

Roderick Avondale Armstrong (Service No 7192) was desperate to serve. His enlistment documents state he was single, 21 years old, worked as a dental mechanic and listed an aunt in Wollongong, N.S.W., as his next of kin. In fact, he was a 15 year old boy from Wollongong, N.S.W., who left his family and went to Sydney to enlist. As he was 5 foot 8 inches tall and weighed 120 pounds he was successful.

Roderick embarked on RMS Osterley, with 1st Battalion, 24th Reinforcement, on 10th February 1917 and arrived in England on 11th April 1917. He joined 35th Battalion, A Company, in France, on 1st August 1917.

Letters on file indicate he had been found out and he was returned to England, for a return to Australia. Roderick returned in February 1918, and was discharged underage on 22nd March 1918. There are no medals listed as issued, but he was accepted for repatriation benefits.

He married Catherine Harrison, in Sydney, N.S.W., in 1920 and they had 2 children.

Roderick died in Concord Hospital on 21 October 1975.

Sources:

NAA: B2455, ARMSTRONG R A