RAF Navigator/Pilot 1941 - 103 Squadron (Bomber Cammand)
Cy Grant was born in what was then known as British Guiana (now Guyana) in South America. He came from a middle-class mixed-race family and grew up in a large house with servants, which was adjacent to his father’s church. His father a minister of the Moravian church and his mother was of Scottish heritage and taught piano to 4th-grade classes in the British School of Music.
Cy Grant was a Navigator in a Lancaster which was shot down after a dog fight with a German fighter. Before everyone could make a quick escape, his plane blew up, sending its, occupants flying through the air. He managed to open his parachute and landed in a field.
Most black officers were shot on the spot if captured, however, after his capture, he was placed into solitary confinement. After some time, he was dragged out to be photographed, for the local German newspaper. The article was headed, “A Member of the Royal Air Force of Indeterminate race”.
Cy ended up in Stalag Luft 3, of the Great Escape Fame. Due to his colour, Cy decided that escape was not an option. His contribution to the Great Escape was to keep the Germans occupied, by playing his guitar and singing while alerting the other prisoners digging the tunnels Tom, Dick, and Harry when the German guards were heading in their direction. He did this by changing the tune he was playing for one that indicated danger.
After the war, Cy became a barrister, a singer of folk and Calypso music, and a writer. He appeared regularly on "The Tonight Programme”, became Lieutenant Green in "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, and co-starred with Richard Burton in the film "Sea Wife".
Through the years I traced the descendants of all of the men who were in the Lancaster Bomber with Cy and interviewed the last remaining crew member who was Don Towers the radio operator.
Read about his story in the book "Pilots and Soldiers of the Caribbean; Fighting Men of the Caribbean".
To purchase a signed book go to- www.caribbeanservicemen.com
or Amazon and other online bookstores
ISBN- 978 1838-0127-48 Paperback.
E-book ISBN -978 1838 0127 55