Son of Thomas Leo McGraw, Sr.
At the time of being accounted for as a casualty of the Korean War, he had worked as a U. S. Navy Photographer's Mate upon the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CV-34; "The Mighty O").
On the day of his passing, he was filming a Vought F4U Corsair fighter plane attempting to land onto the strip when a 250-pound general purpose bomb (which had failed to release earlier while the plane was flying over an area in North Korea) unexpectedly jarred loose from its chamber, cartwheeled onto the Elevator 3 landing platform & exploded, killing him & Aviation Electrician's Mate Airman Thomas M. Yeager (who was working on a plane some yards away when he was fatally struck by shrapnel) & injuring 13 other men. Though several reports claimed that the pilot was also killed in the explosion, the pilot, identified as Lieutenant Edwin L. Kummer (Fighter Squadron 124), was knocked unconscious by the blast but survived thanks to the heroic rescue made by Airman Richard D. Donovan. Despite the camera being destroyed in the blast, the film of the incident was recovered from the scene & was later developed & featured in many parts of the media, ranging from newspapers nationwide to FOX Movietone News & British Pathe. The film can be found on YouTube.
He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal & the Korean War Service Medal.
At the time of being accounted for as a casualty of the Korean War, he had worked as a U. S. Navy Photographer's Mate upon the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CV-34; "The Mighty O").
On the day of his passing, he was filming a Vought F4U Corsair fighter plane attempting to land onto the strip when a 250-pound general purpose bomb (which had failed to release earlier while the plane was flying over an area in North Korea) unexpectedly jarred loose from its chamber, cartwheeled onto the Elevator 3 landing platform & exploded, killing him & Aviation Electrician's Mate Airman Thomas M. Yeager (who was working on a plane some yards away when he was fatally struck by shrapnel) & injuring 13 other men. Though several reports claimed that the pilot was also killed in the explosion, the pilot, identified as Lieutenant Edwin L. Kummer (Fighter Squadron 124), was knocked unconscious by the blast but survived thanks to the heroic rescue made by Airman Richard D. Donovan. Despite the camera being destroyed in the blast, the film of the incident was recovered from the scene & was later developed & featured in many parts of the media, ranging from newspapers nationwide to FOX Movietone News & British Pathe. The film can be found on YouTube.
He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal & the Korean War Service Medal.
Son of Thomas Leo McGraw, Sr.
At the time of being accounted for as a casualty of the Korean War, he had worked as a U. S. Navy Photographer's Mate upon the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CV-34; "The Mighty O").
On the day of his passing, he was filming a Vought F4U Corsair fighter plane attempting to land onto the strip when a 250-pound general purpose bomb (which had failed to release earlier while the plane was flying over an area in North Korea) unexpectedly jarred loose from its chamber, cartwheeled onto the Elevator 3 landing platform & exploded, killing him & Aviation Electrician's Mate Airman Thomas M. Yeager (who was working on a plane some yards away when he was fatally struck by shrapnel) & injuring 13 other men. Though several reports claimed that the pilot was also killed in the explosion, the pilot, identified as Lieutenant Edwin L. Kummer (Fighter Squadron 124), was knocked unconscious by the blast but survived thanks to the heroic rescue made by Airman Richard D. Donovan. Despite the camera being destroyed in the blast, the film of the incident was recovered from the scene & was later developed & featured in many parts of the media, ranging from newspapers nationwide to FOX Movietone News & British Pathe. The film can be found on YouTube.
He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal & the Korean War Service Medal.
At the time of being accounted for as a casualty of the Korean War, he had worked as a U. S. Navy Photographer's Mate upon the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CV-34; "The Mighty O").
On the day of his passing, he was filming a Vought F4U Corsair fighter plane attempting to land onto the strip when a 250-pound general purpose bomb (which had failed to release earlier while the plane was flying over an area in North Korea) unexpectedly jarred loose from its chamber, cartwheeled onto the Elevator 3 landing platform & exploded, killing him & Aviation Electrician's Mate Airman Thomas M. Yeager (who was working on a plane some yards away when he was fatally struck by shrapnel) & injuring 13 other men. Though several reports claimed that the pilot was also killed in the explosion, the pilot, identified as Lieutenant Edwin L. Kummer (Fighter Squadron 124), was knocked unconscious by the blast but survived thanks to the heroic rescue made by Airman Richard D. Donovan. Despite the camera being destroyed in the blast, the film of the incident was recovered from the scene & was later developed & featured in many parts of the media, ranging from newspapers nationwide to FOX Movietone News & British Pathe. The film can be found on YouTube.
He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal & the Korean War Service Medal.
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