Thomas Grier

Thomas Grier was born in Glasgow on 12 October 1918 and took a short service commission in the Royal Air Force in May 1938. After converting to the Hawker Hurricane at 6 Operational Training Unit, Sutton Bridge, in mid-1940, he joined No. 601 (County of London) Squadron at Tangmere in June, in time for the Battle of Britain. Through that summer he proved an aggressive and successful fighter pilot, claiming a string of victories that ultimately reached a dozen enemy aircraft destroyed, several of them shared, along with probables and damaged. His skill brought the Distinguished Flying Cross, gazetted on 1 October 1940. As the RAF turned to offensive sweeps over occupied France in 1941, Grier remained in the front line, and in October he was given command of No. 32 Squadron at Angle in Pembrokeshire. On 5 December 1941, aged 23, he was shot down in Hurricane IIb Z3237 during a joint operation with No. 607 Squadron off Le Havre. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.