Claude Cecil Bruce ‘Pete’ was born, 7 August 1908 in Dickinson county, Kansas to the parents of William H Bruce and Cora E Pittman. His father was a research chemist for a water softener company and he died of a heart attack in 1938 after being ill for several months. Claude re-located to California around 1938.

Claude enlisted in the Army Air Corps, 2 January 1942 at Los Angeles, California. He received basic training at an air-field near Albuquerque, New Mexico. While there, he rose to the rank of Sergeant and become a glider pilot.

On 25 January 1943, Staff Sergeant Claude Cecil Bruce was aboard a training glider plane that struck a windmill and an abandoned cement house. In the crash, five men were killed and two were seriously injured. The crash occurred, two miles north of the Army Air Force Glider School at Dalhart, Texas.

Fatalities:

F/O. Bradford King Root, 25, New Jersey, 32057688

S-Sgt. Claude Cecil Bruce, 34, Elmo, Kansas, 19067104

S-Sgt. Ernest Julian Forbes, 25, Red Bluff, California, 19056420

S-Sgt. Philo Nelson French, 24, Springfield, Illinois, 16019392

S-Sgt. James Edward Hyatt, 20, Shreveport, Louisiana, 14014646

Staff Sergeant Claude Cecil Bruce was interred at Banner Cemetery, Elmo, Kansas. His Service Number was 19067104. At the time of his death, he was survived by his mother and four brothers.

References

From - ancestry.com:

Family Trees

From - Fold3:

Service Record

From - newspapers.com:

Courier-Post (Camden NJ), 21 January 1938

Findagrave:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/52975894/claude-c-bruce

Findagrave Memorial ID: 52975894

SBTS:

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? These stories will be accessible via smartphone app at any war memorial or cemetery. If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please email: feedback@storiesbehindthestars.org.

SBTSProject/Kansas/Dickinson

Claude C Bruce