SYME, Hugh Randall
| Service Number: | Officer |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 17 September 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | Royal Australian Navy |
| Born: | Kew, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 28 February 1903 |
| Home Town: | Kooyong, Stonnington, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Scotch College and the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Company Director |
| Died: | Brain Cancer , Epworth Hospital, Richmond, Victoria, Australia , 7 October 1965, aged 62 years |
| Cemetery: |
Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Melbourne Ficus, Garden 6, Tree 91 |
| Memorials: | Victorian Garden of Remembrance |
World War 2 Service
| 17 Sep 1940: | Enlisted Royal Australian Navy, Lieutenant, Officer, Royal Australian Navy | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Sep 1940: | Enlisted Royal Australian Navy, Lieutenant | |
| 8 Feb 1944: | Discharged Royal Australian Navy, Lieutenant |
Help us honour Hugh Randall Syme's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of John Herbert SYME and Ethel Maud nee KING
Husband of Olive Alyson nee CLARK and Joan Campbell nee McCAY
Hugh was the grandchild of newspaper proprietor David Syme, He enlisted in the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserved in September 1940; in Britian he trained in disarming bombs and mines. In June 1941 he was awarded the George Medal for his coolness in defusing ten mines, and in June 1942 he received a bar to the George Medal for disarmng a mine lodged in deep clay at London reservoir. Tunnelling to the mine, he found he had to tunnel around it to reach the fuse; his actions saved the whole suburb from a deluge. Syme was awarded the George Cross in August 1943 for the recovery or disposal of 19 mines over a period of 21 months. One of these mines was a then unknown Type T mine; Syme had to endure painful electric shocks to disarm it, while at times hanging upside down in a mud hole. He returned to Australia in 1943 and helped set up a bomb disposal section at HMAS Cerberus.
After the war Syme became the general manager of The Age Newspaper.
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