Arthur Bywater

Richard Arthur Samuel Bywater GC, GM
Arthur Bywater
Born	(1913-11-03)3 November 1913 Birmingham, England
Died	6 April 2005(2005-04-06) (aged 91) Australia
Awards	George Cross George Medal

Richard Arthur Samuel Bywater, GC, GM (3 November 1913 – 6 April 2005)^[1] won the George Cross and George Medal,^[2] one of only eight people to have been awarded both medals, and the only civilian.

He was born on 3 November 1913 in

Later the same year, on 15 September 1944, there were a series of explosions at the Kirkby factory, killing 14 people. Again, Bywater organised the evacuation of the building and led the team in the dangerous operation of clearing the unexploded ammunition. Each of the 4,000 bombs had to be taken away for destruction separately, a job that took three months. In his report, the director-general of filling factories wrote: "the work was possibly the most dangerous ever attempted in an industrial factory". For this, he was awarded the George Medal,[5] published in the London Gazette on 18 September 1945.^[7]

After the war

After the war, he became works manager of R. N. Coate and Co., the cider makers, at Nailsea, near Bristol. In 1954 he emigrated to Australia and took Australian citizenship. After helping to set up an ordnance factory in New South Wales, he joined the Reserve Bank of Australia in Melbourne.^[3]

In 1999 he wrote Some Reminiscences of a Non-combatant, an account of his wartime experiences.^[3]

He died in Australia on 6 April 2005, aged 91.^[5]

References