Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I whanau a Armstrong i te 11 o Hune 1897 a i whakaakona ia i te Whare Wananga o Cheltenham. Whai muri i tana haerenga ki te Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, i tukuna ia ki te East Surrey Regiment i te Paenga-whawha 1915. I tukuna ki te Machine Gun Corps, i mahi ia i Parani mai i te 1916 ki te 1918, i reira i whara ai ia e rua nga wa, a, i te Poutu-te-rangi 1918, ka waiho hei herehere o te pakanga. I whakahokia mai ia i te Hakihea 1918, i mahi ia i te Raki o Ruhia i te tau 1919 ka whakawhiwhia ki a ia te Karauna o te Hoia mo te toa. I tae atu ia ki
Mesopotamia 1920-21 me te Indian North West Frontier 1930-31, e mahi ana i te nuinga o tana ratonga i waenga i nga pakanga me te 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment i Ihipa, Sudan, Hong Kong me India.