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John Stuart Mould, George Cross, George Medal (21 March 1910 – 9 August 1957), was an Australian naval officer, bomb disposal operative and Australian recipient of the George Cross.
He recovered, defused and investigated the first example of a German moored magnetic mine and was awarded the George Cross in November 1942 for "great gallantry and devotion to duty". He later worked with Doctor J. B. S. HaldaneClark 1968. on developing a diving suit with an integrated air system as air bubbles from the then standard diving suits could "set" German acoustic or acoustic/magnetic triggered mines.
His appointment was terminated on 26 November 1945 when he was acting lieutenant commander attached to HMS Lanka and the staff of the Commander in Chief East Indies.Service Documents at the NAA show this posting as CinC EI though at this time it should have been CinC Eastern Fleet. He was terminated in the UK as he was to take up a position on the Allied Control Commission in Germany as an architect. He returned to Australia in 1948.
In 1953 he attended the coronation of Elizabeth II and was appointed acting lieutenant commander RANVR on 16 February 1953 with his appointment terminated on 15 August 1953. He died on 9 August 1957 in Royal North Shore Hospital due to peritonitis. He was cremated at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium, Lane Cove on 12 August and his ashes interred in the Ex-Service Personnel Wall.
The story of his wartime service was told in Softly Tread The Brave – A triumph over terror, devilry, and death by mine disposal officers John Stuart Mould, GC, GM and Hugh Randal Syme, GC, GM and Bar, and Seventeen Seconds – The gripping true story of the men who dismantled live Nazi bombs in England during World War II, both by Ivan Southall. There is a residential street and a park, containing a memorial, named in his honour in Lalor Park, New South Wales.
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