Rank: Sergeant
Unit: B Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11D – Armor Reconnaissance Specialist
Awards: Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Presidential Unit Citation, Valorous Unit Award, Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Regular
Date of birth: 8-Mar-1949
Hometown: Jena, Louisiana
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 28-May-1966
Start of tour: 6-Sep-1967
Incident date: 30-May-1968
Date of casualty: 30-May-1968
Age at death: 19
Cause of death: Hostile, died of wounds. Small Arms Fire. Gun or small arms fire.
Joseph Harold Graham died from wound received while passenger on military vehicle on combat operation when engaged hostile force in firefight. Individual admitted to a military hospital and later expired.
Five Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
SP4 Gerald Alan Collis
SP4 James Davis
SGT Joseph Harold Graham
PFC George Francis Long
SGT John David Pape
Location of fatality: Hua Nghia, South Vietnam, XT 422 128
Place of interment: Woodland Memorial Cemetery, Jena, Louisiana, USA
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BRONZE STAR MEDAL
WITH VALOR DEVICE
POSTHUMOUS
SERGEANT JOSEPH HAROLD GRAHAM
30 MAY 1968
B TROOP, 1st SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Sergeant Graham distinguished himself by valorous actions on 30 May 1968, while serving as an Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle Commander with Troop B, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, on a reconnaissance in force mission northwest of Saigon, Vietnam. When the armored column was suddenly engaged by a concealed enemy force along the roadway, Sergeant Graham immediately turned his vehicle and began to assault the enemy’s right flank. Disregarding his own safety, Sergeant Graham exposed himself fully in order to attend to the operation of one of the machine guns. While placing fire on the insurgents, he was struck and mortally wounded by a sniper’s bullet. Sergeant Graham’s personal bravery and devotion to duty was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
Headquarters, 9th Infantry Division General Orders No. 5124 (25 June 1968)