Armstrong, Clare Hibbs.

Armstrong, Clare Hibbs, born 23-01-1894, in Albert Lea, Minnesota,  the son of bank president and city councilman DeWitt Clinton Armstrong   and Anna Emma, born Hibbs Armstrong. Dewitt died 08-11-1914 (age 45) in Lanesboro, Anna Emma Hibbs Armstrong died 15-6-1943 (age 73) in Albert Lea. After high school, Armstrong received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.. Armstrong’s West Point class produced more than 55 future general officers, including two Army Chiefs of Staff – Joseph Lawton Collins and Matthew Bunker . Ridgway “Old Iron Tits”. Other classmates include: Aaron Bradshaw Jr.,  Mark Wayne “Contraband” Clark, John Tupper Cole, Norman Daniel “Dutch”. Cota, John Mathew Devine, William Willis Eagles, Theodore Leslie Futch,  Charles Hunter Gerhardt, Augustus M. Gurney, Ernest Nason Harmon,  William Kelly Harrison Jr., Robert W. Hasbrouck, Frederick A. Irving, Laurence B. Keiser, Charles S. Kilburn, Bryant E. Moore, Daniel Noce, Onslow S. Rolfe, Herbert N. Schwarzkopf, Albert Cowper Smith, George Dougles Wahl ,  Raymond Ecclestone Serveira. Williamson, and George H. Weems. Weems died 25-02-1957 (aged 65) in Fort Campbell, Tennessee.

Armstrong graduated on 20-04-1917, with Bachelor of Science degree, shortly after the United States entered World War I, and was commissioned second lieutenant in the Infantry Branch. He was subsequently ordered to Fort McPherson, Georgia and attached to the 17th Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to first lieutenant on 05-05-1917, and to temporary captain on August 5, and assumed command of his regiment’s rifle company. As his regiment was preparing for combat deployment in France, the Spanish flu hit it and half his company died. He was also struck with the disease, but was nursed back to the health with his wife’s help.

After recovering, Armstrong rejoined his regiment and served with it at Chickamauga, Georgia, Tampa, Florida and Camp Meade, Maryland until November 1919, when he received a permanent promotion to captain and orders for transfer to Fort Benning, Georgia. There, Armstrong served as operations officer of garrison’s Motor Transport Corps until February 1920, when he was ordered to Camp Funston, Kansas for duty as property officer of the 7th Division under Major General Edward McGlachlin Jr. McGlachin died 09-11-1946 (aged 78).

Armstrong spent almost a year in that capacity, departing in January 1921, when he was ordered to the Panama Canal Zone. He was assigned to the 42nd Infantry Regiment, consisting of Puerto Rican recruits. He was rifle company commander at Camp Gaillard and became interested in the still-developing anti-aircraft defense. Armstrong was so taken with this weapon that he requested transfer to the Coast Artillery Corps in November 1921. His first coast artillery assignment was with the 4th Company of Coast Artillery Regiment at Fort Amador, Panama Canal Zone and he remained in that capacity until December 1923, when he was ordered back to the United States. Armstrong transferred to the Coast Artillery in 1930.

Armstrong returned to the United States and served with coastal defense at Fort Hancock, New Jersey until July 1924, when he was ordered to the United States Military Academy at West Point for duty as an assistant instructor of tactics. He spent five years there and commanded Company of Cadets during his final year. Armstrong entered the Army Coast Artillery School at Fort Monroe, Virginia in August 1929.[1][5]

Armstrong was temporarily promoted to colonel on 11-12-1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and departed West in May 1942. He was subsequently ordered to Camp Haan, California and assumed command of the 86th Coast Artillery Regiment. His outfit was redesignated the 109th Coast Artillery Group in January 1943 and Armstrong was temporarily promoted to Brigadier General on 16-03-1943.

For his new billet, Armstrong was ordered to Camp Davis, North Carolina in July 1943 and assumed command of the British 50th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade. He spent several months intensively preparing for combat deployment and embarked for the European Theater of Operations in February 1944. Armstrong and his brigade were stationed in the United Kingdom and participated in the Normandy Campaign.

In October 1944, Armstrong was tasked with executing the Antwerp X Operation, which sought to protect the port of Antwerp and its residents against flying-bomb attacks. He formed a special defense anti-aircraft force, which included his own brigade, another U.S. anti-aircraft brigade, a British brigade and a Polish regiment—a total of 22,000 men designated for the defense of Antwerp. The port served as important operating logistical center, where most of the supplies from the United States were redistributed for Allied forces on the Continent.

Armstrong and his troops were deployed in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and destroyed 97% of all V-1 flying bombs aimed at the docking facilities in Antwerp.

During the later phase of World War II, Armstrong and part of his brigade supported General George Smith Patton‘s Third Army during his advance in the Ardennes Campaign or Rhineland Campaign, or Battle of the Bulge.

The Germans’ initial attack involved 410,000 men; just over 1,400 tanks, tank destroyers, and assault guns; 2,600 artillery pieces; and over 1,000 combat aircraft, as well as large numbers of other armored fighting vehicles (AFVs). These were reinforced a couple of weeks later, bringing the offensive’s total strength to around 450,000 troops, and 1,500 tanks and assault guns. Between 63,222 and 98,000 of these men were killed, missing, wounded in action, or captured. The battle severely depleted Germany’s armored forces, which remained largely unreplaced throughout the remainder of the war. German Luftwaffe personnel, and later also Luftwaffe aircraft (in the concluding stages of the engagement) also sustained heavy losses.

From among the Americans’ peak strength of 610,000 troops, there were 89,000 casualties, including about 19,000 killed. The “Bulge” was the largest and bloodiest single battle fought by the United States in World War II and the third-deadliest campaign in American history..

For his service during the defense of Antwerp, Patton awarded Armstrong the Army Distinguished Service Medal and two Bronze Star Medals, and made him commander of Third United States Army. The Belgian government bestowed him with the Order of Leopold, rank Commander, Croix de Guerre with Palm.

The Allies decorated Armstrong with the Legion of Honour, French Croix de Guerre with Palm, the Order of the British Empire, Dutch Order of Orange Nassau, Luxembourg Order of the Oak Crown and Luxembourg War Cross.

Following Nazi Germany’s surrender in May 1945, Armstrong joined the headquarters of the 15th Army under Patton and served as its chief anti-aircraft officer during the occupation of Germany until April 1946. He then reverted to his peacetime rank of colonel and assumed duty as Chief of Guided Missiles, Coast Artillery & Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group Plans Section, Headquarters Anti-Aircraft Forces.

Armstrong returned to Belgium in December 1946 and assumed duty as military attaché for Belgium and Luxembourg. He was made a Freeman of Antwerp, a distinction shared only with Sir Winston Churchill, General Dwight David “Ike”. Eisenhower, and Field Marshall Bernard Law “Monty” Montgomery. A bust of him is displayed in Antwerp’s city hall.

After the Korean War broke out, Armstrong was again promoted to Brigadier General on 27-09-1950, and ordered back to the United States in December. Due to his knowledge and experiences with anti-aircraft artillery, he was appointed Commanding General of the Third Army Anti-Aircraft Artillery Training Center at Camp Stewart, Georgia. He was tasked with training anti-aircraft artillery crews as replacements for troops in Korea and received an Army Commendation Medal.

Death and burial ground of Armstrong, Clare Hibbs.

Armstrong remained in that capacity until 31-03-1953, when he retired from active duty after almost 36 years of service. He then worked as consultant for U.S. and Belgian weapons manufacturer companies and later settled in Mallorca, in the Balearic Islands of Spain. While there he met Catherine Hays Taylor, a widow from Ligonier, Pennsylvania, and they were married in 1955.

They settled in Hampton, Virginia, where Armstrong died on 12-07-1969, aged 75. He was buried with full military honors at United States Military Academy Post Cemetery, Section VI Lot 248, beside his first wife, Mary. Armstrong was survived by his three children from his first marriage, sons Clare Jr. and DeWitt and daughter Elizabeth. His sons graduated from the United States Military Academy. Clare Jr. retired as lieutenant colonel and DeWitt reached the rank of Brigadier General and completed his service as Commanding General at Fort Devens.

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