Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Robert Allan Bruce, known as Allan, was the son of Arthur Shackleton and Helen Mary (née Ladbrooke) Bruce. He was born at St Andrews on 27 March 1894. He started school at Esk Valley School before transferring to Fernside School in North Canterbury at the age of six.

Allan enlisted in New Zealand in August 1914. He was farming, being employed by his father, at Kakahu near Geraldine. Two months later he headed overseas with the first contingent of New Zealand troops to serve, known as the Main Body. Initially posted as a Private to the Canterbury Mounted Rifles (CMR), Allan was promoted through the ranks of Lance Corporal to Corporal, before being reduced to the ranks again for “irregular conduct on parade” (19 November 1914).

Along with the rest of the CMR Allan joined the campaign on the Gallipoli Peninsula in May 1915, where he was wounded on 21 August during an offensive aimed to break the stalemate that had developed. Allan’s family recount: “He was wounded at Hill 60, in Gallipoli, 1915. He was shot through the hip into his leg by a Turkish machine gun. He was left there for multiple days, in a no man's land. He was later rescued and evacuated to England, where a doctor said that his leg wound would result in amputation. He pointed a stolen Mauser C96 Turkish Officer Pistol to his head and said: ‘If you chop my leg off, I'll shoot myself.’ The doctor then looked inside his supposedly infected leg wound. Then saw the maggots inside his leg, had actually eaten out the infection.”

Allan was transferred initially to Mudros Island, then back to hospital in England in September, remaining there until being granted almost a month of furlough. He returned to the base depot in mid-April 1916, but another hospitalisation occurred in May 1916, when Allan was admitted to the Depot Hospital with VD. He was discharged a week and a half later and transferred to Codford depot from the hospital at Hornchurch in mid-August. At the end of the month, he was attached to the Anzac Provost Corps, with the transfer appearing to be completed in November. While serving with them he was again made Lance Corporal, then temporary Corporal. Three months later, on 29 January 1917 he was posted to the New Zealand Reserve group at Sling camp (in the UK). Almost two weeks later, on 11 February he proceeded back overseas to rejoin the division on the Western Front.

On 5 September 1917, in France, Allan was admitted to hospital once again, sick. He relinquished his rank of temporary corporal at this time too. Toward the end of the month, on 23 September 1917, Allan appears to have still held (or been reinstated to) the rank of temporary Corporal, however. At that time he was transferred to the No.1 Divisional Employment Company – a unit attached to Divisional HQ that was assigned to light work, utilising soldiers who were no longer fit for front-line service. Aside from receiving another couple of weeks of leave in February 1918, he remained on the Western Front until June. On 8 June 1918 Allan was evacuated to a No.3 New Zealand Field Ambulance, then to No.56 Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) with an ulcer on his left leg. On 10 June he was admitted Australian General Hospital. Over the following days he was evacuated to England, being transferred to 1st NZ General Hospital at Brockenhurst. On being discharged at the end of July he was transferred to the Canterbury Reserve Brigade at Sling Camp, UK, then rejoined the Employment Company.

Temporary Corporal A. R. Bruce was struck off the strength of the Canterbury Regiment on 11 December 1918, and returned to New Zealand, embarking on 24 December 1918. He was ultimately discharged in New Zealand on 15 April 1919, no longer physically fit for war service. By this time Allan had served his country overseas for four years and 106 days in the Egyptian, Balkan, and Western European theatres. For his service he was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal, and Victory Medal. Later, in 1968, he was also awarded the Gallipoli lapel badge and medallion.

In 2024 his some of his direct descendants contacted the SCRoll project to share an extraordinary connection to one of the best-know aces from World War One – a story shared with them by Allan, whom they described as “… a hard old bugger and not one prone to telling tall tales.”

“Allen spent some time in the Anzac Provost Corps, and it would seem he was often seconded to the Australian units while he was with the Employment Company. Having done some research with the AWM I discovered he was posted in Corbie at the time of the crash”. The crash in question was that of none other than the fatal crash of the Red Barron. Manfred von Richthofen on 21 April 1918. Allan was assigned to guarding the crash site, in an Australian sector, adjacent to where he was stationed. The crash site was looted by souvenir hunters, and his grandson goes on to say “… he spoke of being ordered to shoot above the heads of Aussie troops to keep them off the aircraft.” Allan’s family were handed down items taken from the crash, including a scarf. “We did also have a piece of fabric from the aircraft but it was lent …[and] subsequently stolen … Grandads description of where he got the scarf matched with the construction of the actual aircraft. There are many Richthofen relics but I am not aware of any scarfs." He went on to say: “Pilots of the time often carried a few scarfs as they got covered in castor oil and grandad spoke of having to scrub the scarf with carbolic soap to clean off the oil and blood.” His grandson, who worked with vintage aircraft many years later noted: “Everything he said matched with the actual physical realities of these aircraft that I subsequently learnt while working closely with them ...”

After the war, in 1923, Allan married Fanny Augusta Elizabeth Dixon and had a family that later shared the stories told to them above. Allan later died in Christchurch on 29 January 1975.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [August 2014 & 4 April 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [April 2020]; School Admission records [08 April 2020]; Arundel Cemetery headstone image (Timaru District Council) [07 April 2020]; Sun, 16 August 1919 (Papers Past) [04 April 2020]; SCRoll web submissions by F & H Bruce, 7 & * May 2024

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Carol Bell, SC branch NZSG; Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG; TOny Rippin, South Canterbury Museum

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.