Chief Petty Officer Reginald Vincent Ellingworth GC of HMS Vernon was posthumously awarded the George Cross, as was Lieutenant‑Commander Richard John Hammersley Ryan RN, for the 'great gallantry and undaunted devotion to duty' he displayed in losing in life while attempting to defuse a parachute mine which had fallen during the blitz on 21 September 1940 in Dagenham in Essex.