His bravery during the battle was recognised with the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces.

Rushing forward and firing his Bren gun from the hip, he cleared a path through the enemy and inflicted several casualties.

His actions, which delayed the Japanese long enough for the Australians to fortify their positions, were instrumental in saving his battalion's headquarters and he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross as a result.

[2] Kingsbury attended Windsor State School as a child, and his results were good enough to earn a scholarship at Melbourne Technical College.

Although qualified as a printer, Kingsbury began working at his father's real estate business,[1] a job he disliked.

[2] In February 1936, Kingsbury and Avery left their jobs and began travelling north, working on several farms and estates.

During this time, the division fought in many towns, including a major battle in Jezzine, where Avery was wounded by a grenade—which drove metal splinters into his spine[6]—and awarded the Military Medal for his "cool courage and devotion".

[7] As the war with the Vichy French was winding down, on 11 July Kingsbury and Avery were selected for a contingent to collect and bury the dead.

On 5 August, the battalion moved north to Brisbane, boarding a ship to Port Moresby to join the fighting in New Guinea, where a force of mostly Militia personnel were engaged in a desperate defensive action.

[11] As the battle was beginning to develop, on 26 August, members of the 2/14th, including Kingsbury, arrived at Isurava to reinforce the exhausted 39th Battalion.

The Australians, who had initially been outnumbered but were now roughly equal in strength, resisted in the face of heavy machine-gun fire and hand-to-hand combat.

On 29 August, the Japanese broke through the right flank, pushing the Australians back with heavy fire, threatening to cut off their headquarters.

They were going out on a picnic almost.Using a Bren gun he had taken from wounded Corporal Lindsay Bear, Kingsbury, alongside Avery and the rest of the group, engaged the nearby Japanese.

The remainder of the battalion was able to withdraw during the night, but suffered heavy casualties and another defeat fighting the next day at positions around the Isurava Guest House.

[15][19] The Japanese had been attacking in waves, and had started to climb a steep hill to outflank the Australians, in an effort to win the battle.

In New Guinea, the Battalion to which Private Kingsbury belonged had been holding a position in the Isurava area for two days against continuous and fierce enemy attacks.

Continuing to sweep the enemy positions with his fire and inflicting an extremely high number of casualties on them, Private Kingsbury was then seen to fall to the ground shot dead, by the bullet from a sniper hiding in the wood.

His initiative and superb courage made possible the recapture of the position which undoubtedly saved Battalion Headquarters, as well as causing heavy casualties amongst the enemy.

[24] Kingsbury's platoon sergeant, Sergeant Robert Thompson, later commented that when he was recommending Kingsbury for the Victoria Cross, he was asked several times would he "please write it up a bit more with a bit more action and such"[25] and On the same day or the next day there was another chap named Charlie McCarthy [sic, McCallum], who really did something, probably far more deserving but they were only going to award one VC, so Bruce got it.

His body now rests in the Bomana Cemetery, Port Moresby,[26] and his Victoria Cross is on display at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.