Sgt G. Bruce

23 Feb 1919 ◐ – 20 Sep 1944 ◐

Sjt Gordon Francis James Bruce (7900461)

About: A serjeant of 156 Parachute Battalion, Murphy's battalion, who died at Arnhem on or shortly after 20 September 1944. He was found in a group of graves at Zonneheuvel, Oosterbeek, with Murphy's lieutenant, Lt Donaldson, and reburied the same day, 3 September 1945, in the same cemetery but in a different plot (Donaldson in plot 21, row B, grave 10; Bruce in plot 19, row C, grave 8).

Unit or role: Serjeant, 7900461, 156th Bn, The Parachute Regiment, A.A.C. (CWGC; ParaData). The records name no company.

Where: His wife's home in the Commission's register was Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire (the register, p. 9). First buried in the isolated group of graves at Zonneheuvel, Oosterbeek, map reference 681785; now Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, plot 19, row C, grave 8 (the concentration forms; CWGC).

Evidence: ✓ the CWGC casualty record and its five archive documents, read on the images (what each one says): the two concentration forms of 1945, held in Lt Donaldson's set, the registration form of 1956 and the headstone schedule, p. 55, held in Pte Lewington's set, and the printed register, p. 9; ✓ ParaData; ◐ Kew's catalogue entry WO 423/676931, which is his on the number match alone.

✓ Kew's catalogue lists a service record for "G F J Bruce", service number 7900461, born 23 February 1919, WO 423/676931, closed until 1 January 2035 and not digitised (the catalogue entry). ◐ It is his on the number alone, the one on all his grave records; the entry gives only name, number and birth date. The birth date makes him 25 on 20 September 1944, the age the Commission gives (CWGC).

The register printed for families has him the son of Gordon and Elise M. Bruce, and the husband of Margaret G. Bruce, of Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire (the register, p. 9); ParaData repeats it (ParaData). Nothing held says when they married, where he was born, or how he came to the battalion; Kew's record of his service is closed until 2035.

ParaData has him in 156th Parachute Battalion at Arnhem, as a serjeant in 1944, and gives no company (ParaData). ◐ Walsh's report puts Murphy in C Company of the same battalion: Walsh was a Bren gunner "with C-Coy of the 156 Para Bn" and calls "Pte. MURPHY" "of my Coy" (C Company is our reading of "my Coy"; the Pegasus Archive's own bracket on that line gives Murphy as "Mortar Platoon, 156 Parachute Battalion") (Walsh). Murphy does not name Sgt Bruce of 156 Bn (◐ his "John Bruce" is the glider pilot Haller, below), and no source held puts the two men together, or Bruce in C Company.

Where he was found. After the war the graves unit lifted seven men together from one spot (the field form has an eighth entry at the same spot, an unknown "R.A.", plot XXI B grave 15, struck through), "Oosterbeek Isolated Holland Gp. of graves Area Zonne Heuvel. Sh. 6NW. MR-681785." (the field form's wording; the typed form writes the place name as one word and the reference as "MR.681785"), and reburied them on 3 September 1945 in what was then Arnhem British Cemetery (the field form, 4 September 1945; the typed form, 8 November 1945). They were:

• Pte S. A. Chennell, 3 Bn Para Regt;
• Lt W. S. Donaldson, 156 Bn, Murphy's lieutenant;
• Sgt G. Bruce, 156 Bn;
• Sigmn D. J. V. Wolfe, Royal Signals, 1st Airborne Divisional Signals;
• Lt J. H. Strang, 7 KOSB;
• Pte H. W. Lewington, 156 Bn;
• Cpl D. Mason, 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron.

The field form of 4 September 1945, signed by a captain, "37 G.R.U.", has him at serial 3, on the line below Donaldson: "Para Regt" typed, with "156 BN." added in red; his army number typed with its first figure written over in red so that it reads 7900461; "Bruce", "G.", rank "Sgt"; his date of death and how he died both "u/k" in red; plot XIX, row C, grave 8 (the field form, serial 3, read on the image; ◐ the typed figure under the red 7 looks like a 1 and is not certain).

On the typed form of 8 November 1945 he is serial 3 again, "156 Bn. Para Regt." by ditto marks from Donaldson's line, 7900461, "Bruce G.", Sgt. Nothing is typed in his date column; above it, in red, is "ON OR SHORTLY AFTER 20.9.44". In the column for how he died a typed ditto mark stands under Donaldson's typed "Unknown", and two red ditto marks stand under the red "PRES./D.W." (presumed died of wounds) written above Donaldson's (the typed form, serial 3, read on the image; ◐ the red marks are read as carrying "PRES./D.W." down to him, and the form does not say so in words). In red on the same form, Donaldson and Lewington were dated "on or shortly after 21.9.44" and Mason, like Bruce, "on or shortly after 20.9.44"; "on or shortly after" was added to Strang's typed 19.9.44, and Wolfe's typed 21.9.44 and Chennell's typed 17.9.44 were left as they were (same form; Lt Donaldson's page has more on what the red ink does and does not settle).

A note about him at the foot of the typed form. Below the table, in red, in a hand running up the page, with "Bruce" underlined: ◐ "Dealt with Bruce only", and above it a first word and a date that two readings of the image give differently (the typed form, read on the image). The first word reads either "Enqy:" (enquiry) or a name, "E Gray"; the date reads either 2/12/45 or 12/12/45, so 2 or 12 December 1945. Nothing held explains the note.

He lies in Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery, plot 19, row C, grave 8, beside Pte Lewington of the same battalion in grave 9 (the registration form; CWGC).

• ✓ The registration form, schedule 127, certified on 10 October 1956: "7900461 Sjt. G.F.J. BRUCE 156 Para Bn. Para Regt. A.A.C. 20.9.44." (the form).
• ✓ The headstone schedule, Form H/2, page 55, stone 497: "7900461 Serjeant G.F.J.Bruce Parachute Regiment Army Air Corps 20th September 1944 Age 25 (Cross)", and under it the personal inscription, "In our hearts a memory / Of one we loved / And shall never forget. / Margaret, mother & pop", which the Commission's website gives in capitals (the schedule; CWGC).

✓ The register printed for families, page 9:

BRUCE, Sjt. GORDON FRANCIS JAMES, 7900461. 156th Bn. Parachute Regt., A.A.C. 20th September, 1944. Age 25. Son of Gordon and Elise M. Bruce; husband of Margaret G. Bruce, of Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. 19. C. 8.

— Commonwealth War Graves Commission · Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery register, NL. 260, p. 9 · the register

• The day he died. ◐ The field form has it unknown; the 20th enters in red ink on the typed concentration form, "on or shortly after", and every other record has the 20th with no amendment: the 1956 registration form, the headstone schedule, the printed register and the Commission's website (field form; typed form; the later records). Only the 1956 form is dated, so that the schedule and register came after the typed form is not shown. Nothing held says what the clerk was reading. ParaData has 20 September 1944 (ParaData).
• How he died. ◐ "u/k" on the field form; on the typed form, red ditto marks under Donaldson's "PRES./D.W.", read here as presumed died of wounds (field form; typed form).
• Murphy's "John Bruce". His typed notes have "the Glider Pilot was John Bruce" (notes). ◐ That is the glider pilot Bernard Haller, whose page sets out why: the "John" is in Hardy's and Walsh's reports, and the "Bruce" is ⚠︎ Murphy's alone. Sgt G.F.J. Bruce of 156 Bn, who died at Arnhem in September 1944 (CWGC), is a different man.

Everyone, A to Z