Carole Holdcroft, President of S I Cannock welcomed members and guests to the annual International Evening held at the Barns recently. Their speaker was Phil Shanahan; his subject: the real Enigma Heroes. Using pictures to illustrate his talk Phil told his audience about three brave unsung heroes whose action had a major effect on the outcome of World War 2, although for decades no-one knew of the role they had played. It is said that, because of them, the war was shortened by as much as two years.
Colin Grazier and Tony Fasson served onboard HMS Petard. Their objective was to track down U boats. On 30th October 1942 they had spent 10 hours hunting a U boat; at night, in the pitch black, they hit it and the U boat surfaced close to HMS Petard. Search lights illuminated it and the German crew were taken onboard under guard. Colin Grazier, aged 21, then did a very brave thing: he dived into the sea and swam to the U boat, joined by Tony Fasson, 29, and by Tommy Brown, aged 16, a canteen assistant. Between them they captured as much information connected with the naval Enigma – including the vital code books – as they could. The U boat went down, taking Colin and Tony to their deaths; Tommy very sadly died two years later, in a house fire. Their bravery enabled those working at Bletchley Park to crack the coded messages being sent via the naval enigma machines. Colin Grazier and Tony Fasson were each posthumously awarded the George Cross for bravery whilst Tommy Brown was awarded the George Medal.
Colin Grazier came from Tamworth and when the story was discovered a sculpture entitled “3 Anchors Sculpture” was erected in Tamworth to the memory of all three men.
Soroptimist and Historian Janis Lomas gave the vote of thanks to Phil for such a fascinating talk.
A raffle held on the evening raised £125 for the SI Emergency Fund which is used to provide instant aid to disaster hit areas all over the world.
Photos attached: 1: l to r: Alyson Green, President S I Midland Chase Region; Phil Shanahan; Carole Holdcroft, President, SI Cannock & District