Lieutenant Commander George Herbert Goodman, (25 November 1900 â 31 May 1945) of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve was awarded the George Cross for the "great gallantry and undaunted devotion to duty" he showed on 15 January 1942 in defusing an Italian circling torpedo.
Goodman was attached to HMS Vernon, HMS President and HMS Nile (Alexandria) and rendered many unexploded devices safe during the war in Britain and North Africa.
Goodman was the first person to defuse the Italian self-destructing torpedo which had beached itself east of Alexandria. He was assisted in this action by Petty Officer William Filer and painter Archibald John Russell, both of whom received the George Medal.
Notice of Goodman's George Cross appeared in the London Gazette on 15 September 1942, reading:
Goodman died when a booby-trap exploded in a house in Rotterdam, on 31 May 1945.