George Cross: A B Fasson and C Grazier

Anthony Blair Fasson, Lieutenant, Royal Navy; HMS Petard
Born: 17 July 1913, Lanton, Roxburghshire, Scotland
Died: 30 October 1942, Mediterranean Sea

Colin Grazier, Able Seaman Colin, Royal Navy; HMS Petard
Born: 2 December 1912, West Bromich, Birmingham, England
Died: 30 October 1942, Mediterranean Sea


The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the posthumous award of the GEORGE CROSS to:—
Lieutenant Anthony Blair Fasson, Royal Navy.
Able Seaman Colin Grazier, P/SSX.25550.
for outstanding bravery and steadfast devotion to duty in the face of danger.


The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the George Medal to:—
Junior Canteen Assistant Thomas William Brown, N.A.A.F.I.,
for great bravery and devotion to duty in the face of danger.


On 30 Oct 1942 HMS Petard was one of five destroyers searching for a German U-boat -- U-559 -- which was known to be in the area.  Petard made contact and attacked with depth charges, eventually forcing the U-boat to the surface, where her crew opened the sea-cocks and abandoned ship.  Fasson, the destroyer's first lieutenant, and Grazier volunteered to swim to the sinking submarine to search for documents and other classified material.  When Fasson and Grazier boarded the submarine, 16-year-old Brown, one of the personnel aboard a whaleboat which had followed them, joined them.  The two men located several documents and passed them to Brown, who handed them up to the men aboard the whaler.  When U-559 suddenly sank Brown managed to swim free, but the other two were trapped below decks and drowned. The documents recovered turned out to include a pair of codebooks, which turned out to be a tremendous help in breaking the German navy's Enigma codes.

Brown died 13 Feb 1945 of injuries received whilst attempting to rescue his sister from a house fire.

[London Gazette issue 36169 dated 14 Sep 1943, published 10 Sep 1943.]

Detectives

My ten favourite mystery series.  Asey is definitely Number One; the others are listed in the order of their first appearance.

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Asey Mayo (24 books, 1931-51, by Phoebe Atwood Taylor).  Asey, "the Codfish Sherlock," is a jack-of-all-trades on Cape Cod.

Judy Bolton (38 books, 1932-67, by Margaret Sutton).  The series begins with Judy as a high-schooler in Pennsylvania, and continues after she finishes school and gets married.

Nero Wolfe (47 books, 1934-85, by Rex Stout, and 7 authorised sequels, 1986-94, by Robert Goldsborough, plus pastiches by numerous other authors).  Wolfe is a private detective in New York City.

Luis Mendoza (37 books, 1960-86, by Elizabeth Linington writing as "Dell Shannon").  Luis is a lieutenant in the LAPD Homicide (later Robbery/Homicide) Division. Linington wrote two other series about LA-area cops: Vic Varallo (13 books, 1961-85, by "Lesley Egan") and Ivor Maddox (13 books, 1964-86, using her real name).  Vic is a patrolman in the Glendale PD, and Maddox is a sergeant with the Hollywood PD.

Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee (18 books, 1970-2006, by Tony Hillerman).  Lt Leaphorn and Sgt Chee are members of the tribal police on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico and Arizona.  After Hillerman's death his daughter Anne added four books to the series (2013-18).

Colin Flagg (8 books, 1973-94, by M K Wren).  Colin owns a bookstore on the Oregon coast.

Brady Coyne  (25 books, 1984-2010, by William G Tapply).  Brady is a Boston Lawyer. Tapply also co-wrote three books (2001-07) with Philip R Craig, in which Brady teams up with J W Jackson, the star of 19 books by Craig.

Meg Langslow (25 books so far, 1999-2019, by Donna Andrews).  Meg is a blacksmith and mother somewhere in central Virginia.

Walt Longmire (21 books so far, 2004-19, by Craig Johnston).  Walt is a county sheriff in Wyoming.

Alafair Tucker (10 books, 2005-18, by Donis Casey).  Alafair is an Oklahoma farmer's wife; the stories are set before, during and immediately after WW I.  Casey's plan was to write one book centred on each of Alafair's ten children; having completed that, she is starting a new series which she says is a spinoff from the original series.

Book List -- 2018

Clash of Eagles -- AH, by Alan Smale
If You Survive: From Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge to the End of World War II -- WWII memoir, by George Wilson
Just One Damned Thing After Another -- IMHECT, by Jodi Taylor
A Symphony of Echoes -- IMHECT, by Jodi Taylor
Much Depends on Dinner -- food history, by Margaret Visser
Matt Helm: The War Years -- spy fiction, by Keith Wease
To the Last Salute -- WWI memoir, by Georg von Trapp *
Brief Cases -- urban fantasy (Dresden - short stories), by Jim Butcher
The Ghosts of Evolution: Nonsensical Fruit, Missing Partners, and Other Ecological Anachronisms -- botany, by Connie C Barlow
A Long Time Until Now -- timeslip, by Michael Z Williamson
Toucan Keep a Secret -- mystery (Langslow #23), by Donna Andrews
The Alexander Inheritance -- timeslip, by Eric Flint and Gorg Huff
Digging for Richard III: The Search for the Lost King -- archaeology, by Mike Pitts
Strange Practice -- urban fantasy (Helsing #1), by Vivian Shaw
Recce: Small Team Missions Behind Enemy Lines -- memoir, by Koos Stadler
Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef -- memoir, by Gabrielle Hamilton
Lark! The Herald Angels Sing -- mystery (Langslow #24), by Donna Andrews
The Survivors (aka Space Prison) -- SF, by Tom Godwin


Eighteen books this time round, only one of them a reread (marked by an asterisk).

IMHECT: "[T]he phrase 'time travel' is so sci-fi.  We don't do that.  Here at St. Mary's we investigate major historical events in contemporary time."

The best book of the year, I think, was Strange Practice, the first in a series about a London doctor who provides medical services for vampires, ghouls, mummies, and other undead. Honourable mention goes to the two St Mary's books by Jodi Taylor and to A Long Time Until Now, about a group of American soldiers in Afghanistan who suddenly find themselves shifted back in time to the Palaeolithic.