Three years later, he and his war bride came back through the Nova Scotian pier on their way to beginning a new life in North York that would span more than six decades.
Now Grignon's story is featured in a new children's book called Pier 21: Stories from Near and Far.
Written by Quebec author Anne Renaud, the book provides a sample of tales from the 1.5 million immigrants, war brides, displaced people, evacuee children and Canadian military service personnel who passed through its doors between 1928 and 1971.
"Philippe Paul Grignon was one of many Canadian soldiers aboard the S.S. Batory, which sailed from Pier 21 in March 1942," said the book, which then goes on to chronicle Grignon's first memory overseas.
"My first taste of wartime Britain was a long train trip overnight with all the blinds drawn because of the blackout rules to prevent enemy planes spotting us," Grignon said in the book.
Grignon, a flight lieutenant with the Royal Canadian Air Force, was attached to Britain's Royal Air Force coastal command during the war. He served as a radar, radio and machine gun operator.
However, even before reaching his post, Grignon and his fellow servicemen were thrown into the war when a German aircraft dive-bombed the hotel in which they were billeted. The bomb missed them but killed an elderly couple sitting in their garden next door.
On one memorable occasion during his air-sea rescue duties over the North Sea, Grignon and his buddies located a small boat carrying Norwegians trying to escape the Nazi invasion of their country. Despite almost crashing into water, the crew managed to right the plane and radio their position so the boat could be escorted to safety.
Grignon's crew was also part of the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest military campaign of the war.
"I kind of had a quiet war compared to a lot of stories you hear," said Grignon, sitting in the living room of his condo building near Finch Avenue and Don Mills Road.
"I did my duty."
It was while on leave in London that Grignon spotted a "Yorkshire lass" by the name of Barbara Tomlinson in a penny arcade with a friend.
The couple started dating.
"I remember almost the exact moment my heart went rump-a-thump," said Grignon, detailing when he fell in love during a walk with Barbara, who shared his mother's British heritage.
"It was raining. She was wearing a borrowed raincoat and tam. She had the beautiful English complexion and I was done for."
They were married in a church in Wembley on May 29, 1944.
In February 1945, Grignon came home to Canada with his bride.
They travelled the rough waters home on the RMS Aquitania. It was one of the few times women and children were on the same ship with the servicemen, although the men were separated from them except during meals.
After being processed through Pier 21, the newlyweds proceeded to Grignon's home in Quebec to meet his family.
Knowing his wife would be more comfortable in a community where she could speak English, Grignon took her to Toronto, where they settled in a North York neighbourhood made up of ex-military personnel and their families.
"If I put a noble spin on it, I thought if she could move 4,000 miles to be with me, I could move 400 miles for her," said Grignon, who worked for 40 years Drug Trading Ltd., a wholesaler for drug stores.
Other then a spell in Ottawa, where his company transferred the family for seven years, the Grignons called North York their home since the end of the war.
Together, the couple had two children, Paul and Margaret. There are also seven grandchildren, three great-grandchild and a great-great-grandchild on the way.
Barbara died in February 2007, three months' shy of their 63rd wedding anniversary.
Grignon, who has many honours under his belt including the first recipient of the distinguished service award from the Canadian Condominium Institute, is hoping the book detailing the comings and goings at Pier 21 becomes a best-seller to keep history alive.
The book, which retails for $18.95, is on sale at Chapters, Indigo and Coles bookstores or at the publisher's website at www.lobsterpress.com