Despatches for his service during the D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. During the invasion, Enterprise conducted shore bombardment in support of the invasion forces at Utah Beach. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal by the United States for his actions during the naval bombardment of Cherbourg on June 25, 1944, during which he was wounded in an exchange with shore batteries. After leaving Enterprise, Grant returned to Royal Canadian Navy service and commissioned the cruiser and deployed to the Pacific. However, the surrender of Japan ended the war before Ontario could arrive and instead Grant and the cruiser helped re-establish British control over Hong Kong. Grant was awarded the Companion of the Order of the British Empire in January 1946. Chief of the Naval Staff Grant was promoted rear admiral in February 1946 and was appointed Chief of Administration Services and Supply in Ottawa, Ontario. He served as deputy to Chief of the Naval Staff Howard E. Reid, but for the most part, influenced the policy of the time more than Reid. Following the end of the war, the Royal Canadian Navy was greatly reduced in size, with fewer ships and those ships in service only partially manned. Grant had a tendency to promote regular force officers over those of reserve backgrounds. He also maintained that senior officers did not require formal staff training. Grant was considered "blunt, arbitrary, a firm decision-maker and a sea-dog to the core." By the time of Grant's promotion to vice admiral, appointment as the Chief of the Naval Staff and successor to Reid on September 1, 1947, the Minister of National Defence, Brooke Claxton sought to focus the navy's efforts on anti-submarine warfare (ASW) defence. Grant approved of Canada's new commitments to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). However, he disapproved of Claxton's interference in naval affairs and some of these, including the re-arrangement of ranks within Canada's armed forces was one of the factors that led to a series of personnel unrest in 1949. Following the unrest, a commission was set up by Claxton headed by Rear-Admiral Rollo Mainguy. Grant wanted the commission to be internal, but Claxton refused. Mainguy was Grant's man on the commission while Claxton chose Louis Audette, a former naval reservist who disliked Grant. The report latter found that several deficiencies in morale, training and leadership. It also affirmed that a Canadian identity for the