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Bales graduated from Robbinsville High School in 1938 and attended Brevard Junior College in 1938-40. In 1940, he transferred to UNC, where he was a member of Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity and was a monogram letter winner.
After graduation, he attended the midshipman’s school at Northwestern University and was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Navy on Oct. 28, 1943. He then attended the Motor Torpedo Boat Training Center at Melville, R.I., until Jan. 28, 1944. After a brief home leave, he sailed from California to New Guinea, landing there about Feb. 24.
On the evening of March 6, 1944, Bales was a visiting officer aboard PT-337, which left Saidor, New Guinea, for a patrol in the area of Hansa Bay and Madang. In the early hours of March 7, PT 337 was hit by Japanese fire, and the crew was forced to abandon ship. During two days aboard a life raft, Bales swam to gather driftwood to make the raft more buoyant. When Manam Island was sighted, Bales and two crewmates swam to the island and were seen on the beach. The crew members aboard the raft observed Japanese on the island but could not state whether Bales and his comrades had been captured. They did not see Bales after their last sighting.
The remainder of the crew was picked up by a PBY patrol aircraft on March 11. No trace of Bales was ever found, and he was declared officially dead as of Jan. 16, 1946.
Source:
GAA Alumni Records;
www.abmc.gov
Bruce served in the U.S. Navy on PT Boat 337.
His boat was sunk by Japanese shore batteries on March 7, 1944, in Hansa Bay, north of New Guinea. After their boat was sunk, the crew floated on a raft with at least one crew member injured. After being on the raft a day and a half, Bruce and two other sailors swam to nearby Manam Island. A fourth sailor swam toward the island behind the three. The fourth sailor while still in the water, saw Japanese soldiers approaching and tried unsuccessfully to warn Bruce and the two men with him. Bruce and the two sailors with him were taken prisoner by the Japanese. The fourth sailor who was swimming behind Bruce and the other two sailors swam back to the raft. He and the rest of the crew on the raft were rescued on March 11, 1944. Several days later another PT boat crew went to the island. They were given information, by the people who lived there, that the Japanese had left the island with one or more prisoners. Bruce and the two sailors with him were never seen again.
Memorialized at First United Methodist Church Cemetery, Hayesville, North Carolina
Having actually gone "Missing" on March 7, 1944, he was not officially declared by the military as being dead until January 16, 1946.
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Bruce served as an Ensign, PT-337, U.S.S. Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Twenty-Four, U.S. Navy during World War II.
He resided in Graham County, North Carolina prior to the war.
Bruce was declared "Missing In Action" when PT-337 was sunk by Japanese fire in the Pacific area during the war.
Memorial at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Manila, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines
Ensign Bruce Bales was awarded the Purple Heart.