bentley priory - Spink

THE BENTLEY PRIORY BATTLE OF BRITAIN TRUST APPEAL CHARITY AUCTION
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An Early 1940 Second War ‘Bomb Disposal’ G.M.
Group of Four to Sergeant K. Lythgoe, Royal Air
Force
a) George Medal, G.VI.R. (515738. Sergt. Kenneth
Lythgoe, R.A.F.)
b) 1939-1945 Star
c) Defence and War Medals, extremely fine, with the
following related documents &c.:
- Central Chancery letter regarding the investiture of
the G.M., dated 12.5.1941
- Nine photographs of the recipient, including one
group photograph (lot)
£4,000-5,000
G.M. London Gazette 21.1.1941 515738 Sergeant Kenneth
Lythgoe [in a joint citation with 1300504 Aircraftman 2nd
Class Richard Nicholson and 998918 Aircraftman 2nd Class
Arthur Simpson]
‘These airmen, as members of a demolition party, have
handled enemy bombs with great courage and disregard for
their personal safety, on various dates during July, August,
and September, 1940.’
The joint Recommendation states: ‘These airmen, as
members of a demolition party, have handled and rendered
harmless enemy bombs, with great courage and disregard for
their personal safety, on various dates during July, August,
and September. This has frequently necessitated long and
difficult digging. Once they had to dig for eight days to a
depth of 40 feet to expose the top of a bomb which they
exploded in situ. On another occasion they dug 7 feet down
to an unexploded bomb near a cottage. When the bomb was
withdrawn by the demolition van, driven by Sergeant
Lythgoe, it was found to be fitted with a type of fuse which
they had been instructed not to remove. As the bomb could
not be transported in the van, owing to the roughness of the
ground, Aircraftmen Nicholson and Simpson carried it some
five or six hundred yards to a suitable place for demolition.
When a third bomb had been excavated with such difficulty,
and withdrawn by towing cable and van, its fuse was found to
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be too badly damaged to be extracted, so the bomb was
removed to a safe place and destroyed. In all, nine bombs
have been handled by this party, all of whom, and especially
these three airmen, have faced constant danger with the
utmost courage.’
515738 Sergeant Kenneth Lythgoe, G.M., born
Wolverhampton, 4.12.1910; served during the Second
World War with the Royal Air Force as part of their Bomb
Disposal unit, based at Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire; died
1981.
Sergeant K. Lythgoe