Gunnar Bryde Syverstad, BEM (6 February 1910 – 11 March 1945) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

resistance member. He is known for his assistance in the

Norwegian heavy water sabotage The Norwegian heavy water sabotage ( nb, Tungtvannsaksjonen; nn, Tungtvassaksjonen) was a series of Allied-led efforts to halt German heavy water production via hydroelectric plants in Nazi Germany-occupied Norway during World War II, involv ...

.''Gunnar Syverstad'' (sunshine - aktiv tjeneste i Telemarksfjellene)
He was born in

Horten is a town and municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway—located along the Oslofjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Horten. The municipality also includes the town of Åsgårdstrand a ...

, Norway. his mother was from that city and his father was from

Glemmen Glemmen is a parish and former municipality with the city of Fredrikstad, Østfold county, Norway. History The parish of ''Glemminge'' was established as a municipality 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). A part of Glemmen with 2,013 inh ...

Østfold Østfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in southeastern Norway. It borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden ( Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other s ...

county. He later moved to

Rjukan Rjukan () is a town and the administrative centre of Tinn municipality in Telemark, Norway. It is situated in Vestfjorddalen, between Møsvatn and Lake Tinn, and got its name after Rjukan Falls west of the town. The Tinn municipality council gra ...

where he was laboratory assistant at the Vemork hydroelectric power plant outside

Tinn Tinn is a municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional regions of Upper Telemark and Øst-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Rjukan. The parish of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

. He fled to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

in February 1944, where he became a member of the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its p ...

. He returned to Norway, being parachuted in over Hardangervidda, to participate in the

Operation Sunshine Operation Sunshine was an anti-demolition operation in occupied Norway from October 1944 to May 1945. It was planned by Norwegian military personnel in the United Kingdom in cooperation with British forces, and part of an effort to protect essent ...

with

Leif Tronstad Leif Hans Larsen Tronstad DSO, OBE (27 March 1903 – 11 March 1945) was a Norwegian inorganic chemist, intelligence officer and military organizer. He graduated from the Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1927 and was a prolific research ...

. Syverstad and Tronstad were both killed in a shooting incident 11 March 1945. He was posthumously awarded the

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown. The current honour was created in 1922 to ...

References

Other sources

*Jensen, Erling; Per Ratvik; Ragnar Ulstein (1948) ''Kompani Linge'' *Berg, John (1986) ''Soldaten som ikke ville gi seg' (Metope) *Poulsson, Jens-Anton (1944-1945) ''Tungtvannssabotasjen, kampen om atombomben 1942-1944'' *Dahl, Per F. (1999) ''Heavy water and the wartime race for nuclear energy'' (Taylor & Francis) 1910 births 1945 deaths People from Horten Norwegian military personnel killed in World War II Norwegian resistance members Norwegian Special Operations Executive personnel People from Telemark Recipients of the British Empire Medal Deaths by firearm in Norway {{World-War-II-bio-stub