Grasett was
commissioned into the
Royal Engineers on 24 June 1909. He was promoted to
lieutenant on 4 February 1911. He served with distinction during the
First World War, earning the
Military Cross (MC) in 1915, the
Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1918, and was five times
mentioned in despatches. The war now over, he then attended the
Staff College, Camberley from 1920 to 1921. He served on operations on the North West Frontier of India from 1921 and then as a
General Staff Officer at the Staff College from 1935. he served on the General Staff in the headquarters of
Northern Command from 1937 and was promoted to major general in September 1938 (with seniority backdated to 9 January 1938) and soon after was appointed
Commander of British Troops in China in 1938. , joint President (with
Charles de Gaulle) of the
French Committee of National Liberation in 1943, with Lieutenant General A. E. Grassett arriving in England. Grasett served in the
Second World War as
General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the
48th (South Midland) Division from 1941 and, promoted to acting lieutenant general on 7 November 1941, was made GOC of
VIII Corps on the south coast of England from November 1941. His lieutenant general's rank was made temporary in November 1942. In 1944 he was posted to the
War Office in London and served as Chief of the European Allied Contact Section of the
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force under General
Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1944 to 1945. and
Colonel Commandant of the
Royal Engineers in 1945 and retired from the army in 1947. ==Awards and recognition==