Harold Newgass  Harold Reginald Newgass, GC (3 August 1896 – 17 November 1984) was a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve officer of the Second World War who was awarded the George Cross for the "great gallantry and undaunted devotion to duty" he showed in defusing an enemy parachute mine over two days in 1940. Newgass was born into a wealthy family in central London on 3 August 1899, the son of Maria Regina (née Hess) and Benjamin Newgass. He had two older brothers, Edgar Isaac and Gerald. As two of his paternal aunts married into wealthy American families, Babette Newgass Lehman (married to Meyer Lehman) and Esther Newgass Hellman (married to Isaias W. Hellman), his father was named the head of the Lehman family cotton operations in New Orleans (named "Lehman, Newgass & Co") after the Lehman brothers moved their headquarters to New York City. His father later moved to Liverpool, then the global center of cotton manufacturing, and opened a branch office. The three brothers-in-laws continued to invest in each others ventures in railroads, banks, and commodities. Harold had served in the Territorial Army attached to the Royal Artillery from 1918 to 1934. On the evening of 28-29 November 1940, a German parachute mine fell on the Garston Gas Works in Liverpool. It was unknown whether it was magnetic, acoustic, delayed action or just a "dud". Consequently, this caused extensive disruption in the area, with factory work halted and over 6,000 people removed from the vicinity. Additionally, railway and dock sidings were closed and the gas supply to the south and east of Liverpool was disrupted. The "luftmine" had fallen through a large gas holder and its parachute had become entangled in the hole in the roof. The large entry hole made by the mine allowed gas to escape and a portion of the roof to sink. The mine was resting on the floor nearly upright, nose down in some of oily water. It was also leaning on one of the -high brick piers on which, in turn, the iron pillars that supported the roof were fixed. Additionally, the mine's fuse mechanism was against the pillar, meaning that the mine had to be turned before it could be defused. Some of the water was pumped out and an access hole was cut into the side of the gas holder. The job of now rendering the mine safe was left to Temporary Lieutenant Harold Newgass.