OrangePekoe asked Abigail Roux:

Just how did Grampa Grady find out about Ty and Zane? And did he know any of the characters from your WWII story?

Abigail Roux It is highly unlikely that Chester Grady knew any of the characters from A Cruel Thing. While A Cruel Thing told the (sort of fictional) tale of the defenders of Wake Island (who were very real and part of the 1st Defense Battalion), and Chester did fight in the Pacific Theater of WWII, there were hundreds of thousands of Marines stationed there throughout the war, and they mostly comprised two different types of troops; defense battalions and mobile Marine forces. Defense battalions, like the one on Wake Island in A Cruel Thing, were stationed on key outposts and remained there to defend them. Once placed in a defensive position, they didn't get around much, to say the least. Chester was part of a mobile unit that participated in several campaigns to take locations held by the Japanese, and therefore wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet the defenders of Wake Island.

As for Ty and Zane's secret; Chester has sharp ears, sharp eyes, and a sharp mind, and like a lot of elderly family members, he has a knack for being invisible when it serves him.

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