Bruce was born on June 10th, 1918 in Hackettstown, Warren County.

He was a star in High School Football as a running back and in track in the 100 yard and long jump.

Into the U.S. Army

He was among some of the first in Warren County to be called for duty and was inducted into the U.S. Army at Fort Dix New Jersey before Pearl Harbor.

From here he was sent to Fort Bragg for Basic Training. During this time he was trained as a Anti-Tank gun crewman. After graduation Bruce and the other men were sent for advanced training and maneuvers. Once finished he went to New York City where they departed for North Africa.

Bruce was assigned to the 60th Infantry Regiment and fought his first battles here. After this first taste of combat he went onto Sicily and was then sent to England to train troops for the invasion of France.

Here he was told they were done and would not be seeing any further action.  However, the hedgerow fighting took its toll and he was sent to France in early June, fighting all the way to St. Lo where on July 15th, 1944 he was KIA.

Bruce was first buried at St. Mere Eglise but in about 1947 or 1948 his family had him returned to Hackettstown and re-interned.

Bruce was awarded the Purple Heart.

His brother, an Air Corp veteran with the 392nd Bomb Group, passed away in 2017 and was interned next to his brother.