Ryan, Richard John Hammersley

Date of birth:: July 23rd, 1903
Date of death:: September 21st, 1940 (Dagenham, Essex, Great Britain)
Buried on:: Commonwealth War Graves Haslar Royal Naval Cemetery
Plot: G. Row: 8. Grave: 24.
Nationality:: British (1801-present, Kingdom)

Biography

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George Cross

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Lieutenant Commander
Unit:: Enemy Mines Section, HMS Vernon, Chatham, Royal Navy
Awarded on:: December 20th, 1940

Lt. Cdr. Ryan was a master of defusing the magnetic mine with several successfull results and as such was called upon for the more difficult tasks with this most dangerously delicate type of bomb. At Hornchurch in Essex he made safe a bomb which threatened the aerodrome and an explosives factory. Lt. Cdr. Ryan, together with C.P.O. Reginald Vincent Ellingworth, R.N., then went to a warehouse in Dagenham, Essex, where an unexploded bomb was hanging from a parachute. The pair, who had faced many dangers together, were both killed by it's explosion and both were awarded the George Cross posthumously.

Sources

Photo: George Cross Database
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission