John G. Armstrong was born in Monkton, Maryland, on 5 September1921. He was the son of Frederick and Emma Armstrong. He had four brothers (Edward, Arthur, Frederick Jr., and Joseph) and one sister (Isabelle). At some point, while on leave, John married the former Margarett Scott. His enlistment record indicates that he attended one year of high school and worked as a chauffeur or driver. He entered the service from Massachusetts on 14 September 1942, at Fort Devens. John was assigned to Company A of the 825th Tank Destroyer Battalion, rose the rank of Sergeant and was put in command of the 1st Squad of Section 1 under command of Lieutenant Jack Doherty and Staff-Sergeant Vester Lowe. The 825th TDBn sailed from the New York port on May 30th, 1944 abroad the Queen Elizabeth, arriving in Scotland on June 5th. After an additional 2 months of training, the men and equipment were loaded on LST's and arrived on Utah Beach in Normandy, France. They were equipped with 3'' towed guns and initially assigned to the Communications Zone and performed 12th Army Group security duties between August and December, 1944. The battalion entered combat near Malmedy, Belgium, on 17 December 1944. The next norning, A Company was sent to Stavelot. John, Private Léo Brunette (who was a member of the First Squad) and Sergeant Lou Celentano (leader of the 4th Squad of Section 2) were close friends. They agreed that if any of them died, the survivor(s) would visit the family of the deceased. After the war, Léo Brunette went to visit Armstrong's widow (Margarett Scott) and he married her. On Monday, 18 December 1944, two 3'' anti tanks guns of A Company's Lieutenant Jack Doherty's 1st and 2nd Squad, 1st Platoon were knocked out by Kampfgruppe Joachim Peiper (Waffen SS Officer) after crossing the Amnlève river bridge at Stavelot. They made contact with the enemy and First (Sgt. Armstrong) and Second (Sgt. Whaley) Squad were unable to reach the position designated, due to enemy fire. When they attempted to withdraw and take up positions to return enemy fire, they were hit by direct fire from the Germans. The M3 vehicle of the First Squad was hit by German mortar shell. The German SS troops used a lightweight submachine gun to kill Sgt. John G. Armstrong and part of his crew, who were trying to get out the burning vehicle. Pvt. Anthony Calvanese and Pvt. Léo Brunette were the only men who managed to get out of the halftrack and escape capture. Second Squad's gun and halftrack were also knocked out, but the men were able to escape and seek refuge in nearby houses. In addition to Sergeant John Armstrong, Corporal Frank Richesin, Private First Class Douglas Newman, Private Conley Leach, Private Bernard Gallagher, and Private Fowler Williams were killed in action. The 825th Tank Destroyer Battalion returned to security duties on 16 January 1945. They received credit for the participation in the compaigns of Northen France, Ardennes-Alsace, Rhineland and Central Europe. Sergeant John G. Armstrong was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his action. 

This biography was written by Serge Lemaire based upon Anthony Calvanese : http://www.tankdestroyer.net/honorees/c/988-calvanese-anthony-f-825th Bernard Gallagher :http://www.tankdestroyer.net/honorees/g/995-gallagher-bernard-f-825th James Hammons :http://www.tankdestroyer.net/honorees/h/991-hammons-james-a-825th Jonas Whaley :http://www.tankdestroyer.net/honorees/w/1000-whaley-jonas-h-825th, http://www.tankdestroyer.net/honorees/h/1017-hauser-martin-825th - http://www.tankdestroyer.net/honorees/c/1022-celentano-louis-j-825th - http://www.tankdestroyer.net/honorees/l/1023-lowe-vester-o-825th