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Note: N18 Bruce graduated from high school and took correspondence courses to become a civil engineer. He worked for Bazley Construction in Pottsville in the meantime. From the time he was 20, he worked as a surveyor, working eight years for the US War Department in the Army Corps of Engineers. From August, 1941 to March, 1943, Bill worked for the US Army Crops of Engineers in Newfoundland. He worked on fortifying the US Naval Base at Argentia and was in Newfoundland during the historical meeting between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. From April 1943 to Jan 1944, he worked on the Alcan Highway in Alaska. He enlisted during the war in Allentown on April 26 1944. He was then sent to Great Lakes Naval Base for training in Radio, and then on to California in Sept 1944. He left on sea duty in May 1945 and returned Dec. 1945. He was discharged Jan 8 1946.
After two years of active duty with the US Navy, (13 months domestic service and 7 months in the Pacific), Bill started with the Reading Railroad Company and stayed with the company for 22 years. During that time, Bill was Construction Engineer for the entire system and was in charge of designing and building Rutherford Yard. He worked with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission from 1969 to 1978, when he left to become Chief Engineer for the Pittsburgh and Shamut Railroad Company in Brookville, PA. He rejoined the Commission in 1983 and worked there for another 12 years..
During a stay at Pottsville Hospital after a thyroid operation (partial thyroidectomy for hyperthyroidism) in the early ‘50’s, he met Jane Davidock, a nurse. He married her in 1955. His four boys were born in Reading Hospital, and then the family moved to Lansdale, where Amy was born. In 1969, they moved to Mechanicsburg, and in 1978, they moved to Brookville, PA, then back to the Harrisburg area in 1983. He retired from the state at the age of 80. He died of right-sided heart failure from pulmonary fibrosis three years later.
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