Colin Grazier, GC (7 May 1920 – 30 October 1942) was a sailor in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

who was posthumously awarded the

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has be ...

for the "outstanding bravery and steadfast devotion to duty in the face of danger" which he displayed on 30 October 1942 in action in the eastern

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

when capturing codebooks vital for the breaking of the German naval "Shark" Enigma cipher from the sinking .

Early life

Grazier was born at Two Gates in Tamworth, the son of Colin Grazier and his wife, Margaret Twynham. He was educated locally and joined the

as soon as the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

began. He served on HMS ''Petard''. Grazier married Olive M. Grazier just before going to war. They lived at 211 Tamworth Road in

Kingsbury, Warwickshire Kingsbury is a large village and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. The civil parish population at the 2011 census was 7,652. The village is situated between Bi ...

30 October 1942

On the night of 30 October 1942 an enemy submarine was reported north of

Port Said Port Said ( ar, بورسعيد, Būrsaʿīd, ; grc, Πηλούσιον, Pēlousion) is a city that lies in northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal. With an approximate population of ...

. The destroyers , , , , and were ordered to proceed from

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandr ...

to relieve who had been searching for the submarine (which was German

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

). HMS ''Petard'', assisted by Wellesley aircraft of No. 47 Squadron, located the U-boat and attacked with depth charges for nearly ten hours and finally forced the stricken boat to the surface at around 22:40. The U-boat was caught in ''Petard''s search-lights, and the German crew, with

Kapitänleutnant ''Kapitänleutnant'', short: KptLt/in lists: KL, ( en, captain lieutenant) is an officer grade of the captains' military hierarchy group () of the German Bundeswehr. The rank is rated OF-2 in NATO, and equivalent to Hauptmann in the Heer an ...

(Captain) Hans Heidtmann, were taken on board under guard, but not before they had opened seavalves and petcocks in order to scuttle the submarine before abandoning it. HMS ''Petard'' now sought volunteers to swim over and search the damaged submarine. Lieutenant Francis Fasson said that he would go aboard. Fasson stripped off his clothes and jumped into the cold sea. Colin Grazier also volunteered and followed him across. The two men were then joined by 16-year-old

NAAFI The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI ) is a company created by the British government on 9 December 1920 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families. It runs ...

canteen assistant Tommy Brown, and they began the task of searching the rapidly sinking U-boat for any vital documents, code books or machinery. The two senior men, Fasson and Grazier, entered the submarine and passed all the information they could get their hands on to Brown, who was waiting on the conning tower. Suddenly the submarine lurched and slipped beneath the waves, taking Grazier and Fasson with it. Both men were drowned. Their daring mission remained a secret for over 30 years due to the

Official Secrets Act An Official Secrets Act (OSA) is legislation that provides for the protection of state secrets and official information, mainly related to national security but in unrevised form (based on the UK Official Secrets Act 1911) can include all info ...

George Cross citation

The awards of the

to Fasson and Grazier were published in the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

'' on 14 September 1943. The medal is on display at the National War Museum at

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...

Legacy

Colin Grazier Memorial, Tamworth - 2022-10-10 - Andy Mabbett

Fasson and Grazier had managed to pass out the vital code books that reached

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...

on 24 November 1942. They proved to be the

Discriminant Book The Discriminant Book (German: ''Kenngruppenbuch''; literally: ''Groups to identify the key to the receiver'') shortened to K-Book (''K. Buch''), and also known as the ''indicator group book'' or ''identification group book'' was a secret ...

(short weather key) and Kurzsignalheft (short signals) code books, which yielded priceless information in breaking the U-boat Enigma codes. Convoys could now be rerouted to avoid wolfpacks and losses were halved in January and February, 1943. In Grazier's home town of Tamworth there is an avenue, an office block and a hotel named after him. The hotel contains a gallery of photographs. In October 2002, a commemorative sculpture was unveiled in Tamworth to honour Grazier and his two colleagues involved in the capture of documents from ''U-559''. The sculpture, the work of Polish sculptor

Walenty Pytel Walenty Pytel (1941- ) is a Polish-born contemporary artist based in the United Kingdom, recognised as a leading metal sculptor of birds and beasts. Life Pytel was born in German-occupied Poland during the Second World War. Because of his blon ...

, takes the form of three anchors, and the date of the unveiling was chosen to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the action against ''U-559''. The

museum at Bletchley Park The National Museum of Computing is a museum in the United Kingdom dedicated to collecting and restoring historic computer systems. The museum is based in rented premises at Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire and opened in 2007. ...

has a section dedicated to his memory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grazier, Colin 1942 deaths British recipients of the George Cross Royal Navy recipients of the George Cross Royal Navy personnel killed in World War II People from Tamworth, Staffordshire Royal Navy sailors World War II espionage 1920 births Military personnel from Staffordshire