Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless .380 ACP serial
number 136358
issued to Brigadier General Donald J. Armstrong (ca. 1944).
Brigadier General
Donald J. Armstrong (1889-1984) -
(ASN: 0-2967)
Born in Stapleton, New York on April 15, 1889. He
began his military career as an Army Coast Defense Artillery
lieutenant after completing his bachelors from Columbia in
1908 and masters degree also at Columbia University in 1910.
During World War I, he served as an artillery officer in the
American Expeditionary Forces, taking part in
Champagne and Meuse-Argonne offensives. Then he was
assigned as an assistant military attaché in the American
Embassy in Paris from 1919 to 1924.
He transferred to the Ordnance Department in 1923 and was
assigned first to the research laboratory at Watertown
Arsenal, then as a War Department planner, a member of the
Field Artillery Board, and as Chief of the Maintenance
Division in the Office of the Chief of Ordnance.
Graduated from the Army Industrial College in 1927.
These demanding assignments provided a thorough grounding in
research, development, industrial operations, and
maintenance that would serve him well in the key positions
he held during World War II.
From 1939 to 1942, he served as Executive Officer and then
Chief of the Chicago Ordnance District, coordinating
industrial mobilization and wartime production in a region
covering all or part of eight Midwestern states. While he
was assigned to the Chicago District, it awarded $2.7
billion dollars in Ordnance Department contracts.
Next, he took command of the newly established
Tank-Automotive Center in Detroit, which would later become
the Tank-Automotive Command. The new center had broad
responsibilities for procuring the Army's tanks and
automotive equipment.
In December 1942, he moved on to a new challenge--command of
the Ordnance Replacement Training Center (ORTC) at Aberdeen
Proving Ground, which trained all of the Ordnance
Department's individual replacements. Armstrong reorganized
the still-expanding center to into three training regiments
that provided sequential basic and advanced training to as
many as 14,000 soldiers at a time and graduated up to three
companies of replacements each week. He also established a
Field Training Battalion that conducted a three-week field
training exercise for all of the trainees at Camp Pickett,
VA.
In August 1944, BG Armstrong was appointed Commandant of the
Army Industrial College. Much to his credit, he was
instrumental in converting it to a joint-services
institution, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF).
During his tenure, 1,600 Naval officers became part of the
student body and graduated from ICAF.
BG Armstrong retired in 1946 after 35 years of distinguished
military service and 23 years as an Ordnance officer.
Decorations included the Distinguished Service Medal and
Legion of Merit.
After retiring from the military, Armstrong was president
of the United States Pipe and Foundry Company from 1947 to
1951. In 1966, he published The Reluctant Warriors, a book
on the Third Punic War. He died in January 11, 1984 and is
buried in Arlington Cemetery. He was inducted in the
U.S. Army Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame in 2002.
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Army Distinguished Service Medal
Awarded for actions during the World War II
Citation: The President of the United States of
America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9,
1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army
Distinguished Service Medal to Brigadier General
Donald Armstrong (ASN: 0-2967), United States
Army, for exceptionally meritorious and
distinguished services to the Government of the
United States, in a duty of great responsibility
during the period from February 1945 to July
1946. The singularly distinctive accomplishments
of General Armstrong reflect the highest credit
upon himself and the United States Army.
General Orders: War Department, General Orders
No. 89 (August 13, 1946)
Action Date: 1945 - 1946
Service: Army
Rank: Brigadier General |
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Legion of Merit
Citation: The President of the United States of
America takes pleasure in presenting the Legion
of Merit (Navy Award) to Brigadier General
Donald Armstrong (ASN: 0-2967), United States
Army, for exceptionally meritorious conduct in
the performance of outstanding services to the
Government of the United States. As Commandant
of the Army Industrial College from 1 September
1944 to 20 February 1945, during which time over
1,600 Navy officers and civilians were trained
under his command in contract settlement work.
The excellence of instruction offered resulted
in the Navy using the School as its major
instructional institution for all the Navy's
contract termination personnel. His
administration was marked by complete
cooperation with the Navy Department and was
noteworthy for the high standard of instruction
provided by the School under his command. The
meritorious performance of duty was a real
contribution to the readjustment problems not
only of the Navy but of the Nation.
Action Date: 1944 - 1945
Service: Army
Rank: Brigadier General |
Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless .380 ACP serial
number 136358
issued to Brigadier General Donald J. Armstrong - Accompanying General
Armstrong's pistol is the original box
(numbered to the gun) spare magazines and instruction sheet. Both original issue
magazines show
almost no wear. There is no "M" recorded next to the
serial number, nor on the magazines.
Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless .380 ACP serial number 136358
issued to Brigadier General Donald J. Armstrong - in original factory
kraft box numbered to the gun with two full blued spare
magazines and instruction sheet.
Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless .380 ACP serial number 136358
issued to Brigadier General Donald J. Armstrong - in original factory
kraft box numbered to the gun with two full blued spare
magazines and instruction sheet.
Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless .380 ACP serial number 136358
issued to Brigadier General Donald J. Armstrong - pictured with his
medals and Award for Service from Columbia University (1946)
and an 18K gold John C. Jones Medal presented by the
American Ordnance Association (1949)
Photograph inscribed:
"To Brigadier General Donald
Armstrong with congratulations on his many
accomplishments in a long and distinguished military
career and with warm regards of his friend, Dwight D.
Eisenhower"
Brigadier General Donald J. Armstrong
(April 15, 1889 - January 11, 1984)
Gen. Donald Armstrong, a retired business
executive and career Army officer who served during both
world wars, died Wednesday at a nursing home in West Palm
Beach, Fla. He was 94 years old and had lived in Palm Beach
for several years.
General Armstrong had a lifelong interest in military
history and classical literature. He was the author of ''The
Reluctant Warriors,'' published in 1966, about the last of
the three Punic Wars.
He was born in Stapleton, N.Y., in 1889. He graduated from
Columbia University in 1909 and was named assistant military
attaché at the United States
Embassy in Paris in 1919. He was promoted to brigadier
general in 1942, and served as commander of the Industrial
College of Armed Forces in 1945 and 1946, when he retired
from active duty.
Between 1947 and 1951, he was president of the United States
Pipe and Foundry Company.
ARMSTRONG, DONALD
BG United States Army
DATE OF BIRTH: 04/15/1889
DATE OF DEATH: 01/11/1984
BURIED AT: SECTION 6 SITE 9563-A
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
ARMSTRONG, FRANCES NEWCOMB
DATE OF BIRTH: 01/01/1889
DATE OF DEATH: 12/06/1955
BURIED AT: SECTION 6 SITE 9563-A
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
ARMSTRONG, IRENE T
DATE OF BIRTH: 12/18/1909
DATE OF DEATH: 04/02/1965
BURIED AT: SECTION 6 SITE 9563-A
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
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