Private Richard Armstrong

Private Richard Armstrong, 9th ( Highland ) Battalion, Royal Scots ( The Dandy Ninth ). He was killed in action in Belgium on 20th September 1917, aged 19, during the Battle of Third Ypres. He had been born in Udny, Aberdeenshire and was the son of James and Elizabeth Armstrong of  Riccarton Junction, Liddesdale and 24 Wellogate, Hawick. He had been employed as a booking clerk with the North BritishRailway Company at Newcastleton station when he enlisted.  He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. He fell in the successful attack on the German positions on the Stroombeek where all the objectives were carried and a strong German counter attack repulsed. Casualties as ever were not light and 3 Officers and 58 Other Ranks were killed or missing with 2 Officers and 163 Other Ranks wounded. The photos show the desolate state of the Flanders battlefield where the delicate drainage systems had been shattered by the incessant shelling. The Battalion was part of the 154th Brigade in the 51st ( Highland ) Division and after the War an impressive Memorial was raised in its commemoration. It was erected overlooking “Y” Ravine in Newfoundland park on the Somme where on the 13th November 1916 the Division had stormed the very strong German positions in Beaumont Hamel. A Plaque on the Memorial reads in both English and Gaelic ” Friends Are Good On the Day Of Battle”.