The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (196) Able Bodied Driver Robert Armstrong, 1st Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train, AIF, First World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (196) Able Bodied Driver Robert Armstrong, 1st Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train, AIF, First World War.

196 Able Bodied Driver Robert Armstrong, 1st Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train, AIF
Drowned 1 January 1917

Today we remember and pay tribute to Able Bodied Driver Robert Armstrong.

Robert Armstrong was born in Melbourne on 8 May 1881 to Robert and Bessie Armstrong. Robert attended Burnley State School and trained as a painter. He became a seaman with the Adelaide Steam Ship Company and spent 15 years working on ships.

Armstrong enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in early 1915. With his maritime skills, he joined the 1st Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train. After brief training in Australia, he sailed from Melbourne in June 1915 on the transport ship Port Macquarie. He was then stationed on the Greek island of Lemnos, supporting the bridging train on Gallipoli.

The bridging train carried out a wide variety of tasks. The men built and maintained piers and pontoon bridges, helped bring supplies ashore, controlled the supply of fresh water to front line troops, built a light railway, and carried out repairs on Gallipoli.

With the failure of the Dardanelles campaign, allied troops began evacuating in December. Most of the bridging team were evacuated by mid-December, but about 50 men stayed behind to dismantle the pontoon bridges used to get the troops on to the boats. These men left Gallipoli at the end of the month, and were the last Australians to leave the peninsula.

The bridging team returned to Egypt, where they were stationed at Kubri, on the Suez Canal. Armstrong was promoted to the rank of driver, and so was in control of horse teams used to move heavy equipment. One of the unit’s main roles in Egypt was operating pontoon bridges, allowing troops, horses, and equipment to cross the canal. The pontoons were swung aside twice daily to allow shipping through.

Armstrong’s comrades in the bridging team remember him celebrating Christmas with them in 1916. After dinner that night, he set off to walk along the Suez Canal back to camp. That was the last time they saw him alive. His body was found in the Canal on 1 January 1917. A court of enquiry found that it was most likely that he had fallen into the canal and drowned on the night of 25 December 1916. He was 35 years old.

Robert Armstrong was buried in Suez War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt, one of more than 500 Commonwealth First World War soldiers buried there.

Armstrong’s three brothers also served in the AIF. Corporal Thomas Armstrong served on the Western Front and returned to Australia in 1919. Private James Armstrong enlisted in 1914 but suffered from ongoing injuries at the training camps in Egypt and returned to Australia in 1916. Private Abel Armstrong was badly wounded on Gallipoli and returned to Australia in 1916.

Able Bodied Driver Robert Armstrong is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Able Bodied Driver Robert Armstrong, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Thomas Rogers
Historian, Military History Section