Francis X McGraw – American Hero
It’s hard to tell what a hero looks like. But when it comes to identifying one through his actions, it’s easy to see that Private First Class Francis X. McGraw is the epitome of what Hero means.
Known throughout his school years at St. Joan of Arc grammar school in Camden where he was born, and Camden Catholic High School, Francis X McGraw was known as a quiet kid, a good kid, one who didn’t like trouble and was agreeable to all. He wore glasses, studied hard, and stayed out of trouble.
After his high school graduation in 1937, he worked at the local Campbell Soup Company factory as a machinist’s helper for a few years. But in 1942, a couple of months after Pearl Harbor, McGraw was inducted into the Army at Fort Dix and spent the next couple of years first in training in Tennessee, Massachusetts, then in Virginia and finally Florida before being shipped out to Algeria.
From his record, it seems that somehow or other, Francis X McGraw was always where the most notorious battles of the war were happening. He was with 1st Platoon Company H, 26th Infantry Regiment, in the First Infantry Division…the Big Red One…in North Africa, fighting the German Afrika Korps. Then he was in Gela, Sicily for the capture of that island, next on the beaches of Normandy on 6 June 1944, D-Day.
After that, the private first class was one of the troops fighting German defenses and crossed the Rhine into the Battle of Hurtgen Forest, which ended up being the longest single battle in American history. His Medal of Honor citation tells the story of what he did there.
The son of John and Mary McGraw, PFC McGraw was born in Camden and raised at the family home at 3110 Merriman Road, His dad was a farmer and the family lived across the street from St. Joan of Arc Church where he served as an altar boy and graduated from Camden Catholic. The family still has some of his letters home during the war, where he urged them to “keep up those prayers, I certainly need them.”
Dying in the Forest after his incredible heroic efforts, which drew praise from his fellow soldiers for his bravery, his continuing to go forward to get supplies in the midst of battle as an ammunition bearer, and refusal to stop fighting and await medical treatment after being struck by German antitank rockets, PFC McGraw was first buried in a temporary military grave, then moved to the Henri Chapelle American Military Cemetery in Belgium after the war.
His parents received the telegram Dec. 7, 1945 from the Secretary of War expressing deep regret that their son was killed in action on November 19, 1945.
His father received his Congressional Medal of Honor from Mayor General Leland Hobbs, USA, in a ceremony at St. Joan of Arc parish Hall.
Among honors paid to the quiet hero was the naming of an Army Military Ship USAT, in Military Sea transport Service until 1974, the McGraw Barracks in Munich, which was active from 1945 until 1992, and the 500 mile long Tigresses Landsite highway adjacent to the Barracks, as well as the McGraw Graven Trench. H was honored in the Price of Freedom Exhibit at the Museum of American History and identified as the “Quiet Hero of Camden.”
PFC McGraw’s Medal of Honor citation reads:
CITATION
He manned a heavy machine gun emplaced in a foxhole near Screenshotted, Germany, on 19 November 1944, when the enemy launched a fierce counterattack. Braving an intense hour-long preparatory barrage, he maintained his stand and poured deadly accurate fire into the advancing foot troops until they faltered and came to a halt.
The hostile forces brought up a machine gun in an effort to dislodge him but were frustrated when he lifted his gun to an exposed but advantageous position atop a log, courageously stood up in his foxhole, and knocked out the enemy weapon.
A rocket blasted his gun from position, but he retrieved it and continued firing. He silenced a second machine gun and then made repeated trips over fire-swept terrain to replenish his ammunition supply.
Wounded painfully in this dangerous task, he disregarded his injury and hurried back to his post, where his weapon was showered with mud when another rocket barely missed him.
In the midst of the battle, with enemy troops taking advantage of his predicament to press forward, he calmly cleaned his gun, put it back into action and drove off the attackers. He continued to fire until his ammunition was expended, when, with a fierce desire to close with the enemy, he picked up a carbine, killed one enemy soldier, wounded another, and engaged in a desperate fire-fight with a third until he was mortally wounded by a burst from a machine pistol.
The extraordinary heroism and intrepidity displayed by Pvt. McGraw inspired his comrades to great efforts and was a major factor in repulsing the enemy attack
On this July 4th weekend … take a moment from celebrating with friends and family, take a minute from Beer, Boats and BBQ’s and read some of the inspiring stories of New Jersey Medal of Honor Recipients … it will make this freedom that we enjoy … all the more precious.
