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Air Commodore Colin McKay Grierson, CBE, (16 June 1906 –
He joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) as an Aircraft Apprentice in 1921. In 1925 he became a Flight Cadet Sargent. In 1927 he was on the Staff of RAF Base, Calshot with the rank of Pilot Officer. During the 1930s he held a number of diffrent positions in the RAF as Armament and Engineering Officer. On 1 January 1941 he worked on the Air Staff in the Directorate of Plans.
On 20 May 1944 he took up the position of Assistant Chief of Staff A2 (Intelligence), SHAEF with the rank of Acting Air Commadore. It was while at SHAEF that he had his fifteen minuites of fame. Two days after the Dresden raid which occurred on 14 February 1945, Grierson briefed the press at SHAEF on the raid stating that the aims of 'Operation Thunderclap' was to bomb large population centres and prevent relief supplies from getting through. An Associated Press war correspondent immediately filed a story that the Allies had resorted to terror bombing in order to seal Hitler's doom and this set in train a number of embarrassing questions on both sides of the Atlantic on the morality of this form of attack.
He retired from the RAF on 31 August 1950 with the rank of Air Commadore .
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