Editing Stanley Bruce (section)

==Military service==
[[File:Sbruce.jpg|right|upright|thumb|Captain Bruce of the Royal Fusiliers during World War I]]
Bruce returned briefly to Australia in 1914, swapping positions within the company with his brother Ernest. World War I broke out in August of that year. Bruce and his brothers sought to enlist in defence of the Empire, but all three of them would choose to serve in the British Army rather than the [[First Australian Imperial Force|Australian Imperial Force]]. It was easier to obtain officer commissions in the British Army and the family had a close association with (and for many of them, long periods of residency in) Great Britain.{{sfn|Lee|p=9}} Bruce enlisted and received a commission as a [[Lieutenant (British Army)|lieutenant]] on 7 February 1915<ref>{{cite journal|title=Second Supplement|journal=London Gazette|date=19 February 1915|issue=29079|page=1823|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29079/supplement/1823|access-date=1 May 2024}}</ref> and was attached to the 2nd Battalion, [[Royal Fusiliers]] in Egypt, which was then assigned to the [[British 29th Division]]. The 29th subsequently joined operations in Turkey along with [[Australian and New Zealand Army Corps]] (ANZAC) troops that year under Sir [[Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton|Ian Hamilton]], commander of the [[Mediterranean Expeditionary Force]] (MEF).{{sfn|Lee|p=10}} [[First Lord of the Admiralty]] [[Winston Churchill]] had devised a strategy of capturing the [[Dardanelles]] from Turkey to allow naval access to Allied Russia. However [[Allies of World War I|allied naval forces]] were unable to secure passage through the narrow straits, and the MEF under Hamilton devised a plan to wrest control through amphibious landings. This was the beginning of the now infamous [[Gallipoli Campaign]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Alan|last=Moorehead|title=Gallipoli|year=2002|publisher=Harper Collins|location=Sydney|isbn=0-06-093708-4|pages=36–43}}</ref>

Bruce's regiment landed at [[Cape Helles]] in mid-1915, where he fully distinguished himself in the [[Trench warfare|construction of trenches]] and as an able commander.{{sfn|Edwards|pp=31–32}} His battalion suffered heavy casualties over the coming months, and Bruce himself was wounded on 3 June by a shot to the arm, though it was this injury that spared him from a major assault by his battalion on 4 June in which many of his peers perished. He later reflected that he must have been kept on earth for some purpose.{{sfn|Stirling|p=485}} He returned to the front lines and his division moved to the new front at [[Suvla Bay]], where it was involved in particularly heavy fighting and sustained trench warfare throughout August and September. Bruce received the [[Military Cross]] and the [[Croix de Guerre]] for his service during these months,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Second Supplement|journal=London Gazette|date=1 February 1916|issue=29460|page=1337|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29460/supplement/1337|access-date=1 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Second Supplement|journal=London Gazette|date=22 February 1916|issue=29486|page=2068|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29486/supplement/2068|access-date=1 May 2024}}</ref> and rose to the rank of [[Captain (British Army)|captain]] on 5 August.{{sfn|Lee|p=12}} He was wounded again on 26 September, this time by a shot to the knee, which left him crippled for several years and forced him to return to England to recuperate, while the rest of his regiment were transferred to France after the abandonment of the Gallipoli campaign.{{sfn|Lee|p=13}}

Although it had been the agreement before the war that Ernest would stay and manage Paterson, Laing and Bruce while his brothers were serving, Ernest Bruce decided to enlist in the British Army in 1915. Hence, in September 1916 Bruce sought to resign his commission and return to Australia to resume management of the family business.{{sfn|Edwards|p=33}} The [[War Office]] refused his request but granted him leave to return to Australia while recuperating from his injuries. As a decorated soldier on crutches with a gift for public speaking, he was enlisted to become a spokesperson for government recruitment in Australia. His success and popularity in this role brought the attention of the Nationalist League and then Prime Minister [[Billy Hughes]],{{sfn|Carroll|p=106}} who lobbied the British government on his behalf and succeeded in convincing the War Office to allow Bruce to relinquish his commission in June 1917.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Third Supplement|issue=30123|page=5710|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30123/supplement/5710|journal=London Gazette |date=9 June 1917 |access-date=1 May 2024}}</ref>

Having served with many of his countrymen he returned to Australia with a renewed sense of pride and mission in the country of his birth.{{sfn|Lee|p=13}} But having borne witness to the catastrophic loss of life in the Gallipoli Campaign and the death of most of his army comrades, as well as having suffered through the loss of most of his family, at age 34 Bruce was imbued with "a driving ambition to make something of a life which providence had spared".{{sfn|Lee|p=14}}