Studio portrait of 2558 Private (Pte) George Henry Bruce, 8th Reinforcements, 13th Battalion, of ...

Studio portrait of 2558 Private (Pte) George Henry Bruce, 8th Reinforcements, 13th Battalion, of Dripstone, NSW. Pte Bruce was born at Bathurst, NSW, the son of George and Annie Bruce of Lewis Street, Mudgee, NSW. He attended the Public School at Apsley and then worked as a railway clerk before enlisting at Wellington on 14 June 1915. He embarked from Sydney aboard HMAT Runic on 9 August 1915. In early 1916, Bruce returned to Australia because of illness and convalesced at Kiama, NSW. He then returned to Dripstone in September 1916 prior to again leaving for overseas and rejoining his unit in France. In early February 1917, the 13th Battalion was engaged in fierce fighting at Stormy Trench, Gueudecourt, on the Western Front where Pte Bruce was killed in action on 7 February 1917. He was 22 years of age at the time of his death and is buried at Villers-Bretonneux, France.