Being shot down with a machine gun on the first day at the Battle of Amiens in August 1918 wasn’t enough to stop Fred Armstrong from later enlisting to the Second World War. John “Jack” Armstrong, one of his sons, believes his dad enlisted to the Second World War to protect him and his three other siblings, Keith, Donald, and Jill.

“He did that because he didn’t want any of us sons going near the war. I think that’s one of the main reasons why he went back,” said Jack.

Fred enlisted to the First World War on April 12, 1916 from Perth, Ontario and served as a private in the 38th Battalion. He was shot in the leg while running across an open field and was sent to a hospital in England before returned to Perth in 1919. He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his service, and went to Ottawa every year for the 38th Battalion reunion.

In the 1920s he married Margaret Couch, who was born on a farm and raised five siblings herself after her mom died. They farmed until the Second World War, when Fred went off to serve as a guard at prisoner of war camps, including Camp 20 on Lake Muskoka in Gravenhurst, Ontario — a camp largely for captured officers.

After the war in 1945, Armstrong and his wife farmed until it became too expensive then moved to Smith Falls, a town in eastern Ontario. There, Armstrong worked with farm machines at Frost and Wood Company.

Jack remembers his father as quiet, hard-working, well-read, and a good talker. He also said he had a good sense of humor and liked to debate.

Fred died in 1968 at age seventy-two and Margaret in in 1994 at age ninety-seven.

Do you have an ancestor who served in the Great War? Submit their story and it could be included on this Great War Album website.