Terrence C. Graves

In December 1967, he arrived in the Republic of Vietnam, where he was assigned duty as a platoon commander of "Team Box Score", 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division. While on patrol 6 miles (9.7 km) northwest of Đông Hà in Quang Tri Province on 16 February 1968, his unit was engaged by People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) soldiers. Wounded in the firefight, Lt. Graves called in air strikes and direct artillery fire while he guided his troops to a helicopter evacuation zone. After successfully guiding the majority of his men to the landing zone, he stayed behind to tend to one wounded soldier, calling for an additional air evacuation to remove the wounded soldier from the area. Short on ammunition and continuing to direct artillery fire, he was killed in action when the second helicopter he had boarded crashed after being hit by PAVN fire.

In 1967, Graves was commissioned a Marine Corps second lieutenant upon graduation from Miami University. He completed The Basic School, Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Virginia, in November 1967.

Terrence Collinson Graves (6 July 1945 – 16 February 1968) was a United States Marine Corps officer who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his "outstanding courage, superb leadership and indomitable fighting spirit" on 16 February 1968, during the Vietnam War.

Terrence Collinson Graves was born on 6 July 1945, in Corpus Christi, Texas, and grew up in Groton, 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 in history on 19 April 1967.