The Rodian male Grisserno was a member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War, serving in the Starfighter Corps. He sired a son, Welinarro, who also fought for the Alliance as a starfighter pilot, but who left the Rebellion for a life in the criminal underworld, leading a squadron of Gauntlet starfighters based at Nwarcol Point on the Sisar Run. Grisserno attained the rank of general, and was noted for his skill at flying and utilizing BTL Y-wing starfighters in combat. Along with that protégé, Horton Salm, Grisserno proved that Y-wings could still be effective combatants against modern warships. He showed that the fighters were not required to engage in dogfights to be effective; rather, simply accelerating towards a target and relying on the gunner and wingmen to keep the fighter's tail clean while delivering their payloads produced the desired results.
During the Galactic Civil War, an assault group of Y-wings under Grisserno's command engaged the Imperial Fourth Attack Squadron at Denab in the Sluis sector of the Outer Rim Territories. The ships of the Fourth Attack Squadron were mostly Victory-class Star Destroyers which suffered from a slow sublight drive speed. At Denab, the ships of the Imperial force were split into two wings stationed too far apart to support each other. Despite the fact that the Fourth Attack Squadron had more combined firepower that his forces, Grisserno ordered his forces to attack, targeting each wing in turn, and defeating them. Due to their low sublight speed, the wings could not move fast enough to support each other, causing them to be routed by the Alliance force. Popular opinion decreed that had the Fourth Attack Squadron been comprised of vessels with faster engines, then the Battle of Denab would never have occurred as the two wings would have been able to combine their forces and deter or overwhelm their attackers. For his role in the victory, Grisserno was regarded as the "hero of the Battle of Denab."
A competent commander, Grisserno had a grasp of tactics and was able to employ them effectively in combat. He also helped to teach other Alliance members, such as Horton Salm, who would go to be one of the Alliance's top Y-wing pilots and commanders.
Grisserno was first mentioned in The Star Wars Sourcebook, published by West End Games in 1987. When the second edition of the sourcebook was released in 1994, the reference to Grisserno remained. He was later mentioned in 1997's Secrets of the Sisar Run, where his species was revealed, as well as his son. In 2012, he received a mention in The Essential Guide to Warfare. While it was not specifically stated that Grisserno was a Y-wing pilot, a later mention of the Battle of Denab in the same book reveals that a Y-wing group was responsible for the victory at Denab.
- The Star Wars Sourcebook
- The Star Wars Sourcebook, Second Edition
- Secrets of the Sisar Run
- The Essential Guide to Warfare