Air Officer Commanding, British Air Forces in Greece on 23 April 1941, after the situation in Greece had worsened and a decision was made to withdraw to the island of Crete. When on 23 April D'Albiac was finally ordered to withdraw Grigson assumed command of what was left of British Air Forces in Greece and was tasked with supervising the withdrawal of these units to Crete. His official report on these operations is an official record and is very detailed. An often repeated story has him "standing on a badly bombed aerodrome in a pair of shorts, cursing at the attacking German aircraft and firing at them as they skimmed over, with rifles which an aircraftsman loaded and reloaded for him". He was Mentioned in Despatches on 24 September 1941. and belatedly decorated by the Greek government as Commander of the Royal Order of George I with Swords on 12 March 1943. The need for fully trained pilots, navigators, bomb aimers and air gunners was absolutely desperate at this stage of the war and Grigson was next posted as Senior Air Staff Officer to the Rhodesian Air Training Group working within the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan to complete aircrew training in nations not currently on the frontline. In 1943 he was appointed acting Air Officer Commanding for the Rhodesian Air Training Group. Death in Rhodesia Grigson was killed on 3 July 1943 in the crash of North American Harvard Mark IIa (serial number "EX163") of No. 20 Service Flying Training School which crashed at Antelope Mine near Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe); he was aged 50. Commonwealth War Graves Commission – John W B Grigson His grave is in Harare (Pioneer) Cemetery, Zimbabwe. His name is recorded on the war memorial in the village of Wherwell, and St. John's School, Leatherhead. He was the husband of Mary Isabel Grigson, of Ottershaw, Chertsey, Surrey. Awards 21 September 1918 – Distinguished Flying Cross. 22 December 1919 – First Bar to the Distinguished Flying Cross. 31 March 1920 – Mentioned in Despatches. 12 July 1920 – Distinguished Service Order. 28 October 1921 – Second Bar to the Distinguished Flying Cross. 24 September 1941 – Mentioned in Despatches. 12 March 1943 – Commander of the Royal Order of George I with Swords. Bibliography Ashworth, Chris. Encyclopaedia of Modern Royal Air Force Squadrons. Wellingborough, UK:Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. . Chorlton, Martyn. "Battle Honours –