The George Cross awarded to a RNVR officer who survived the detonation of a Luftmine has been sold by Noonans
Born in Maidenhead on May 28, 1906, Jack Maynard Cholmondeley Easton was solicitor working in the City of London when World War Two erupted, after which he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
Appointed a probationary Temporary Sub Lieutenant in September 1940, Easton was one of 12 officers who volunteered for the Land Incident Section, formed because the number of unexploded Luftwaffe mines discovered in British towns and cities was overwhelming the regular Royal Navy technicians tasked with their disposal.
Easton’s first mine was located at a farm in Norfolk, half-buried in a chicken run. The area was evacuated, leaving Easton and his assistant alone to tackle the device – and even the assistant was normally not called in until the ‘fang’ (fuze) had been drawn. It was the first of Easton’s 16 successful assignments. (For a fuller account of Easton’s service, see Hero of the Month, BAW July 2023.)
However, on October 17, 1940, disaster struck. Called out to Hoxton in London’s East End, Easton and his assistant, Ordinary Seaman Bennett Southwell, arrived at a terrace house to find a la…
