Paul G. Graham
Brigadier General, U.S. Marine Corps

Paul G. Graham was born on 23 July 1922 in New York, NY.

Graham began his military career when he enlisted in the Marine Corps V-12 Officer Candidate Program and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in April 1944. During World War II, he served as Platoon Commander with the 1st Battalion, 21st Marines, 3rd Marine Division, in actions on Guam and Iwo Jima.

After the war, he served as an instructor in the Department of Ordnance and Gunnery at the U.S. Naval Academy until 1951. In the Korean War, he served as Major in Command of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in July 1961, he served as the Commanding Officer, 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion and as the Landing Force Officer, 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean until 1963. In 1964, he was promoted to Colonel, Chief of Plans Section, Allied Forces Northern Europe.

During the Vietnam War, he served as Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, later, as Commanding Officer, 5th Marine Regiment and was promoted to Brigadier General in Command of Force Troops, Fleet Marine Force Pacific in April 1971. From 1972-73, he served as Assistant Division Commander, 3rd Marine Division, Okinawa, and became Commanding General, Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, CA, in August 1974.

In April 1975, he was given the assignment as the West Coast Marine Corps Coordinator, to accept and process over 50,000 Vietnamese and Thais refugees form Southeast Asia, at Camp Pendleton. For meritorious service in the resettlement of Indo Chinese refugees to the U.S., he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal from President Gerald R. Ford.

He retired from active duty on 1 July 1975.

Death and Burial

Brigadier General Paul G. Graham died in 2002 in Oceanside, CA. He is buried at Mission San Luis Rey Cemetery in Oceanside, CA.