Lieut-Commander RICHARD JOHN HAMMERSLEY RYAN
Royal Navy
H.M.S. President.
Died 21 September 1940
Age 37 years old
- Country of Service United Kingdom
- Awards George Cross
- Additional Info Son of Admiral Frank Edward Cavendish Ryan, C.B.E. and of Eleanor Stuart Ryan (nee Campbell); husband of Margaret Ryan, of Wroughton, Wiltshire.
- Additional Citation note
The following details are given in the London Gazette of 17th December 1940:-"The King has been graciously pleased to approve the posthumous award of the George Cross to Lieut. Cdr. R. J. H. Ryan, R.N. for great gallantry and undaunted devotion to duty."
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.
Introducing For Evermore: Stories of the Fallen - the exciting new way to read and share stories of the Commonwealth's war dead. Got a story to share? Upload it and preserve their memory for generations to come.
Share and read stories
