Trench art cross : Sergeant W G Bruce, Australian Army Service Corps AIF

Trench art cross made of French bullets and a shell casing. Impressed on underside of base '75 DEC/ PD.Ps1418L16R/15/Rs'.

Associated with the service of Sergeant 8593 William Gilbert Bruce who was born in Newtown, NSW in 1885. After leaving school, he became a butcher in the Redfern area of Sydney. Bruce enlisted for service in the AIF on 13 August 1915. He was posted to 19 Army Service Corps as a butcher and promoted corporal the same day. He embarked from Australia on 30 November 1915 in HMAT Suffolk. Bruce disembarked in Alexandria in February and was promoted to sergeant on 7 March. Bruce embarked from Alexandria on 17 March, arriving in Marseilles on 23 March. Upon arrival in France, he was sent to the 2nd Field Butchery where he spent the remainder of the war. He came into contact with German prisoners of war and bought several items from them. He also gave them cigarettes and spent some of his off duty time talking with them. Bruce left France for England on 17 March 1919 where he spent two months, before embarking for Australia aboard the ship Karagola on 8 May. He disembarked in Sydney on 14 June and was discharged from the AIF on 16 August 1919.