Marines

SECOND LIEUTENANT
TERRENCE COLLINSON GRAVES, USMC (DECEASED)

 

Medal of Honor Citation

Second Lieutenant Terrence Collinson Graves, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam in February 1968, was born 6 July 1945, in Corpus Christi, Texas, and grew up in New York, New York. He graduated from Edmeston Central High School, Edmeston, New York, in 1963, and from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, with a B.A. degree, 19 April 1967. 

During his school years, he was a senior patrol leader of the Boy Scouts of America and President of the Methodist Youth Fellowship. A battalion commander of his NROTC unit while attending Miami University, he was commissioned a Marine Corps second lieutenant upon graduation.

Second Lieutenant Graves completed The Basic School, Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Virginia, in November 1967.

In December 1967, he arrived in the Republic of Vietnam, where he was assigned duty as a platoon commander, 3d Force Reconnaissance Company, 3d Reconnaissance Battalion, 3d Marine Division. While on patrol at Quang Tri Province on 16 February 1968, he was killed in action when the helicopter he had boarded crashed after being hit by enemy fire.

His medals and decorations include: the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart, the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Silver Star, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Vietnam War 1963-1975 Medal of Honor