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<em>John Meigs Graham</em> was born in Owensboro, Kentucky on 9 March 1939, the son of Harriet and Miller Graham. He was baptized John, after his paternal grandfather, who was Superintendent of Schools for Davis County, and Meigs, for the maternal O’Bryan ancestors who served in the Civil War and in the medical profession.</p>
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John attended the Charlestown schools after his family moved with the DuPont Corporation to Southern Indiana. Stories of his childhood days revolved around family picnics, Mass on Sundays, his mother’s friend chicken, fishing trips, camping with the Boy Scouts, caring for his family’s horses and pets and playing the trumpet. By the time high school graduation rolled around, John was president of the senior class, guard on the varsity basketball team, first trumpet in the Jonathan Jennings High School Band (which led to a collegiate music scholarship) and, after school, manager of the local auto service station.</p>
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As the oldest of eight children, he mourned with his close-knit family when his dad died unexpectedly. John’s mother, brother David, and sisters Virginia, Carolyn, Janet, Marybelle, Marlee, and Mimi all settled back in Owensboro, and John enlisted in the Army in June 1957. He graduated from the United States Military Academy Prep School and went to West Point in 1959. His favorite cadet stories include tales of “swimming to Newburgh,” the plebe laughing bag, the five-year academic plan, centurion status on the Area, water polo and, in 1961, meeting his “Yankee Filly,” Nancy Mullin from Greenwood Lake, New York.</p>
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John and Nancy were married three days after his June 1964 graduation, and they spent summer leave sailing Cape Cod and the lakes of Kentucky. The next years as an infantry officer were fast-paced, exciting and memorable, a time filled with familial love and joy as new parents, as well as pride in his professional accomplishments and dedication to “Duty, Honor, Country.”</p>
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Mike McKinley had the following to say about his relationship with John: “We first got to know one another during Ranger School, when we shared the adventures of being on the same patrol several times. I recall taking many “map reconnaissance” breaks together under a poncho with John during rain storms, along with about ten other classmates who smoked. We really drew close during our first assignment together in Kitzingen. Our first six months were a blur. While John and I bore the cold at the training centers during our first German winter, Nancy used to drive around Kitzingen with the heat on full-blast because our host landlords were not inclined to increase the fuel in her apartment as the temperature dropped.</p>
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“Once his musical prowess surfaced, John was appointed the battalion bugler at our Monday morning command reveille. His other chance to excel was a command performance each Sunday morning at 7:00 AM in the gym, boxing and wrestling with his fellow company officers and their commander.</p>
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“He was the epitome of an officer and a leader of men — a gentleman, husband, and father. He was my friend, my confidante, my classmate, and the friendship we shared remains one of life’s happiest memories.”</p>
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During his assignment in Europe, John Meigs, Jr. was born in 1956 and Anne Mary in 1967. With the 1st of the 15th Infantry Battalion, John was a rifle and weapons platoon leader, company executive officer and battalion adjutant. He organized and led the 3rd Infantry Division’s “Can Do” marching team to Nijmegen, Holland for the annual five-day peace march. During this assignment, John led the first of his three company level commands, HHC 2d Brigade, 3d Infantry Division, Kitzingen.</p>
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Karl Robinson takes over from here: “I didn’t know John well at West Point. I really got to know him well during our first tour in Vietnam in 1967-1968, when we both served as company commanders in the 1-18 Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. Our area of operations was Military Region III. We always seemed to be called upon when things heated up, such as when the battle of Loc Ninh broke out in late 1967. We “rode to the rescue” and found ourselves in several big fights in the week that followed. Likewise, we were on the division perimeter at Kai Khe on the night the Tet offensive began in 1968, and the next day found us conducting “combat in cities” operations in Saigon.</p>
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“After Vietnam, John and I were assigned to the 3rd Civil Affairs Group (ANB) at Fort Clayton, Panama Canal Zone. It was in this strange and unique unit that our families got to know one another well. Our kids were about the same ages and we shared birthday parties and picnics at the beach. John was Santa Claus at Christmas, and when we really got adventurous, we would launch an expedition to somewhere semi-exotic, like Taboga Island in the Gulf of Panama.</p>
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“Imbued with the enthusiasm of youth, we both volunteered to attend the Jungle Operations Training Course and the Air Force Jungle Survival Course while we were in the Civil Affairs Group.</p>
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“Perhaps the greatest adventure we shared in Panama was when we were assigned to visit all the troop units in the Canal Zone to recruit enlisted volunteers to apply to West Point. This was during 1968-1969, when the popularity of the Vietnam War was at an all-time low and the military, the Army in particular, was held in low regard.</p>
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“Our stay in Panama was interrupted after about a year by orders to Fort Benning to attend the career course. But we knew that, when it was over, we were both due back to Vietnam. And, indeed, back we went. I received a letter from my wife saying that she had received a call telling her that John had been killed in action. Of all the losses I saw, John’s death was the most personal to me. After nearly three years of close friendship, John was gone.”</p>
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He had died as he had lived, doing his best to help others. A Vietnamese unit had been ambushed and was pinned down. John volunteered to accompany the unit that went in to relieve the trapped unit, and, in the attempt, he was killed in action. For his action, both with the 1st Infantry Division and with MACV, John received the Silver Star (2), Purple Heart (2), Bronze Star (V) (3), Air Medal (3). He was buried with full military honors at West Point Cemetery after a Mass of the Resurrection at the Catholic Chapel.</p>
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His mother still lives in Owensboro, Kentucky, and six of his sisters live in Kentucky. His brother David lives in Oregon. Nancy is a personal and family counselor with a private practice in Wilton, Connecticut. She and her husband, Colonel Dick Pocock, reside in Stratford, Connecticut. Her son John M., Jr. graduated from West Point in 1987 and is now at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. John’s daughter, Anne Graham Bryer, graduated from Marymount College in 1989 and is a manpower analyst (GS-11) with Army Material Command at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.</p>
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Nancy says, “We were and are blessed to have had John as our husband, father, son, brother, nephew, cousin, friend, and classmate. He has a memorial at the Fort Knox Museum, the Vietnam Memorials in Albany, New York, Frankfurt, Kentucky and in our nation’s capital. You know, Johnny, you are always in our hearts with the love and the peace that you cherished. God Bless You.”</p>
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Karl Robinson continues, “John was a man who was ahead of his time when it came to his outlook on life. In his mid-twenties, he had already figured out what most of us didn’t realize until we were in our forties: simply that our families were far more important than our careers or our financial well-being or the relative importance of our positions. He knew that time not spent with Nancy and the kids was time that was gone forever. His sense of duty to the Army and the nation took him away more than he liked, but his sense of perspective ensured that he made the most of every chance he got to be with those he loved.”</p>
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Rest in Peace, John.</p>
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<em>Family and classmates</em></p>