"He manned a heavy machine gun in a foxhole near Schevenhutte, 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 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."
From PFC McGraw's Medal of Honor citation, awarded on October 25, 1945.
May you be at peace,
Brian & Mel
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