Armstrong, John H., 1932-1959

Armstrong graduated from Amherst in 1954 with a BA in English and attended Harvard University where he received a Master's degree in English Literature in 1955. In 1955 Armstrong joined the United States Army and attended the Army Language School in Monterey, California where he studied Chinese. In 1958 Armstrong received a Fullbright Scholarship and studied French and Chinese at the Institute for Advanced Languages at the Sorbonne in Paris. During his stay in Paris he met Yves Tommy-Martin (AC 1958), who was planning an automobile trip from Paris to Cape Town, South Africa. When Armstrong's Fulbright Scholarship was not renewed in 1959, he decided to join Tommy-Martin and Jean Pillu, Tommy-Martin's childhood friend. Another American, Donald Shannon, a Milwaukee native and former Air Force lieutenant, joined them not long before they left. The four left set off from France on July 4, 1959 in specially equipped Citroen cars. Following a route along the Mediterranean, they arrived in Egypt later that month. The party drove into the Egyptian desert expecting to be in the Republic of Sudan in two of three days. The four men never made it out of Egypt. Having heard nothing from her son in over two months, Catherine Armstrong contacted the U.S. State Department for help. The Egyptian Government was notified and a search was begun. Egyptian patrols found the bodies on October 26, 1959. It was estimated that the party had died sometime in early August. Official reports claimed the four died of thirst and exposure. The families found evidence that indicated the four young men were murdered.

From the description of Armstrong papers, 1932-1974, bulk 1950-1960. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 51625380

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