Francis X. McGraw

Francis X. McGraw was born on April 29, 1918 in Philadelphia, PA to Mr. and Mrs. John McGraw. When he was two, the family moved to Camden NJ, to the then brand new homes at Yorkship Village, known these days as Fairview. The family lived at 3110 South Merrimac Road, directly across the street from St. Joan of Arc Church, where he and his family attended services.

He graduated from St. Joan of Arc Grammar School in Fairview, and in June of 1937 graduated from Camden Catholic High School, then in Camden, NJ.

From the time of his graduation until his joining the Army, Francis McGraw worked for the Campbell Soup Company in Camden. He also played third base on the St. Joan of Arc team, which participated in the city-run Kobus Twilight Baseball League in the late 1930s. Playing for this team he was a teammate of William Gradwell, a neighbor who had played for Woodrow Wilson High School in East Camden. One of the players he faced was another former Wilson student, Jerome L. “Babe” Carpenter. Both would be killed in separate accidents not related to combat while serving with the United States Army during World War II.

On February 25, 1942 Francis McGraw was inducted into the Army of the United States of America at Fort Dix, NJ. He received his Basic Training at Tullahoma TN, and also received training at Camp Edwards at Cape Cod MA, in Petersburg VA, and in Florida at Camp Carrabelle in Carrabelle FL.

He left the United States for overseas service on December 12, 1942 and arrived at Canastel, Algeria on December 26th, 1942 as a replacement to H Company, 2nd Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, otherwise known as The Big Red One. H Company, commanded by Captain Gilbert H. Fuller, was the heavy weapons company of the 2nd Battalion, and McGraw operated a .30 caliber machine gun.

While in North Africa, he participated in the Battles of Ousseltia Valley and Kairouan Pass from January 17 to February 10, 1943; Gafsa, El Guettar, Tunisia from March 17 to April 10, 1943; and Beja and Mateur in the Tunisia campaign from April 18 to May 8, 1943.

On July 10, 1943 he took part in the Invasion of Sicily, serving with his unit in Italy until August 17, 1943. He remained with his unit in Sicily after the fighting there ended in August of 1943 on occupation duty. The 26th Infantry Regiment sailed for England in October of 1943, to train for D-Day, the Invasion of France.

On June 6, 1944, PFC Francis McGraw landed in France. His unit was the divisional reserve regiment on D-Day, and landed late in the day, around 6:30 PM.

From the time of his landing in France, McGraw and his unit saw much heavy combat. Fighting in the hedgerows of Normandy proved extremely deadly, and there were many casualties. After taking the German city of Aachen in October, the men had a few days respite before taking part in what is now known as the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest. This dense, dark forest, an area 30 by 15 kilometers wide, was filled with concrete bunkers, dug-in strongholds, gorges, German soldiers, streams, barbed wire, trip-wired booby traps, muddy roads, and mines.

On November 16th, 1944 at 11:15 AM American and British bombers along with fighter bombers and escort planes bombed enemy territory north and north-east of the 26th Infantry’s positions. The attack was set for 12:45 PM and at that time the 2nd Battalion pushed forward toward their objective, brushland in the vicinity of Schonthal, Germany.

The German military offered fierce resistance to the Allied forces. Casualties were heavy, and on November 17, H Company commanding officer Captain Fuller was wounded. On a cold and rainy day, November 19, 1944 elements of the German Army supported by artillery and large caliber mortar fire counter-attacked. PFC McGraw’s responsibility as a machine gunner was to defend his unit’s position, near Schevenhutte.

He [Private McGraw] manned a heavy machinegun emplaced in a foxhole near Schevenhütte, 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 machinegun 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 machinegun 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 1 enemy soldier, wounded another and engaged in a desperate firefight 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.

General Order No. 92, October 25th, 1945

Major General Leland S. Hobbs, USA, the designated representative of the President of the United States presented the Congressional Medal of Honor to the father of PFC Francis X. McGraw, Mr. John McGraw of 3110 South Merrimac Road, Camden NJ at St. Joan of Arc Parish Hall in Camden.

The United States Navy named a transport ship in his memory, the USS Francis X. McGraw T-AK 241 which carried cargo in the Pacific from 1947 through 1974. Among its many cargos was the Trieste II deep diving submersible which it transported from Philadelphia to San Diego in the 1960s.

In 1953, Camden named its new elementary school at Fremont and Dudley Streets after the city’s fallen hero. His mother was in attendance when the school was dedicated on September 2, 1953, along with representatives from local posts of the American Legion, Jewish War Veterans, and Veterans of Foreign Wars. On December 7, 1974, American Legion Post 71 from Fairview presented the school with a portrait of PFC McGraw.