Howard D. Graves
{{short description|United States Army general}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Howard Dwayne Graves
|birth_name=Howard Dwayne Graves
|birth_date= {{birth date|1939|08|15}}
|death_date= {{death date and age|2003|09|13|1939|08|15}}
|birth_place= Roaring Springs, Texas, U.S.
|death_place= College Station, Texas, U.S.
|placeofburial= West Point Cemetery, West Point, New York, U.S.
|image=Howard D Graves.jpg{{!}}border
|caption=Graves in August 1989
|nickname=
|allegiance= {{Flag|United States|name=United States of America|1960|size=23px}}
|branch= {{Army|United States|size=23px}}
|serviceyears=1961–1996
|rank= 25px Lieutenant general
|commands=25px Superintendent of the United States Military Academy
|unit=25px Corps of Engineers
|battles= Invasion of Santo Domingo
Vietnam War
|awards= Def. Distinguished Service Medal
Distinguished Service Medal (2)
Legion of Merit (2)
Bronze Star Medal (3)
Meritorious Service Medal (2)
Air Medal (4)
|relations=
|laterwork=Harry Guggenheim Foundation, Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Service, Texas A&M University System
}}
Howard Dwayne Graves (August 15, 1939 – September 13, 2003) was a United States Army officer who served as the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy from 1991 to 1996, and as the chancellor of the Texas A&M University System from 1999 to 2003. A 1961 graduate of West Point, he was a Rhodes Scholar, earning three degrees from Oxford during his army career.{{cite news|author=Eric Pace|title=Gen. Howard D. Graves, 64; Led West Point and Texas A&M System|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/16/nyregion/gen-howard-d-graves-64-led-west-point-and-texas-a-m.html?fta=y|access-date=2009-04-04 | date=September 16, 2003}} During his service in the Army, he was the personal aide to two Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Admiral William J. Crowe and General Colin L. Powell.
Early life and education
Graves was born in Roaring Springs, Texas, the only child of Tommy J. and Velma Lee Clifton Graves. He almost drowned trying to baptise a cat in a pond behind their home but was revived at a Civilian Conservation Corps camp that was close to their rural home. After spending his youth in Amarillo, Texas, and graduating from Amarillo High School in 1957, Graves received an appointment to West Point as a member of the class of 1961. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Engineer branch in 1961. He earned a Rhodes Scholarship and spent the first three years of his military career at the University of Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1964, an MA in 1968 and an MLitt in 1971.{{cite web|title=2001 Distinguished Graduate Award: Howard D. Graves|publisher=West Point Association of Graduates|url=http://www.westpointaog.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=559|access-date=2009-04-11}}
Career
On returning to the United States after his first tour at the University of Oxford, he joined the 82nd Airborne Division, where in 1965 he commanded an engineer company in the Dominican Republic. He saw combat in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969, where he was an Engineer Battalion S-3 and assistant division engineer for the First Cavalry Division. After his second tour at the University of Oxford, Graves returned to West Point in 1970. He was assigned to the Department of Social Sciences, where he taught international relations and comparative foreign governments.
In 1974, Graves was appointed military assistant to the Secretary of Defense, James Schlesinger. His duties included coordinating Schlesinger's travel and public appearances, preparing briefings and speeches for Congressional hearings, and providing counsel on matters affecting the U.S. Army. In 1976, Graves took command of the 54th Engineer Battalion in West Germany, returning to the United States in 1978 to attend the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. In 1980, Graves took command of the 20th Engineer Brigade. He then joined the First Infantry Division in 1982 as the assistant division commander. The next year, Graves was appointed deputy chief of staff, engineer, U.S. Army Forces Command. In 1984, Graves was promoted to brigadier general and became deputy director for strategy, plans, and policy, of the Army Staff. The next year he was promoted to vice director of the Joint Staff. In 1987, Graves succeeded James E. Thompson Jr. as commandant of the Army War College. Lieutenant General Graves then returned to Washington, D.C., to become assistant to the chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 1991, Graves was appointed the 54th superintendent of the United States Military Academy, a position he held until his retirement in 1996.
Later life and death
Graves later joined the Harry Guggenheim Foundation as a director and in 1998 was a visiting professor, at the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Service at the University of Texas. In 1999, he was selected to be the 11th chancellor of the Texas A&M University System. During his tenure as chancellor, Texas A&M added three new universities to its system: Texas A&M University–San Antonio, Tarleton State University–Central Texas in Killeen, and West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.{{cite web|title=Chancellor Howard Graves Biography|publisher=Texas A&M University System|url=http://sago-news.tamu.edu/releases/?p=87|access-date=2009-04-11|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060911050721/http://sago-news.tamu.edu/releases/?p=87|archive-date=2006-09-11}} Graves lived with cancer for several years, dying from the disease at his home in College Station, Texas, on September 13, 2003. He is survived by his wife, Gracie Newman Graves, son, Colonel Gregory Howard Graves, who is also a graduate of West Point (class of 1988), and wife {{not a typo|Wya}} Graves, daughter Gigi Graves Kail and husband the late Colonel Eric Kail, who was an army officer. He is interred at the West Point Cemetery.{{cite web|title=Last Roll Call '61: Howard D. Graves|publisher=West Point Association of Graduates|url=http://www.aogusma.com/Class/1961/Graves.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20070616065534/http://www.aogusma.com/Class/1961/Graves.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2007-06-16|access-date=2009-04-11}}
Awards and decorations
| style="width:100%;" |
| valign="top" |
{| class="wikitable" |
| style="background:#ccf; text-align:center;"
| colspan=2 |U.S. military decorations |
| {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Defense Distinguished Service Medal ribbon.svg{{!}}border|width=106}} |
| {{ribbon devices|number=1|type=oak|ribbon=Distinguished Service Medal ribbon.svg{{!}}border|width=106}}
|Army Distinguished Service Medal (with oak leaf cluster) |
| {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=US Defense Superior Service Medal ribbon.svg{{!}}border|width=106}} |
| {{ribbon devices|number=1|type=oak|ribbon=Legion of Merit ribbon.svg{{!}}border|width=106}}
|Legion of Merit (with oak leaf cluster) |
| {{ribbon devices|number=2|type=oak|ribbon=Bronze Star ribbon.svg{{!}}border|width=106}}
|Bronze Star (with two bronze oak leaf clusters) |
| {{ribbon devices|number=1|type=oak|ribbon=Meritorious Service Medal ribbon.svg{{!}}border|width=106}}
|Meritorious Service Medal (with oak leaf cluster) |
| {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Air Medal ribbon.svg{{!}}border|width=106}}20px
|Air Medal (with bronze award numeral 4) |
| {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Army Commendation Medal ribbon.svg{{!}}border|width=106}} |
| style="background:#ccf; text-align:center;"
| colspan=2 |U.S. and foreign unit awards |
| {{ribbon devices|number=1|type=oak|ribbon=Meritorious Unit Commendation ribbon.svg{{!}}border|width=106}}
|Meritorious Unit Commendation (with bronze oak leaf cluster) |
| {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Gallantry Cross Unit Citation.png{{!}}border|width=106}} |
| {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Civil Action Unit Citation.png{{!}}border|width=106}} |
| style="background:#ccf; text-align:center;"
| colspan=2 |U.S. service (campaign) medals and service and training ribbons |
| {{ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=National Defense Service Medal ribbon.svg{{!}}border|width=106}}
|National Defense Service Medal (with bronze service star) |
| {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=Armed Forces Expedtionary Medal ribbon.svg{{!}}border|width=106}} |
| {{ribbon devices|number=4|type=service-star|ribbon=Vietnam Service Medal ribbon.svg{{!}}border|width=106}}
|Vietnam Service Medal with four service stars |
| {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Army Service Ribbon.svg{{!}}border|width=106}} |
| {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Army Overseas Service Ribbon.svg{{!}}border|width=106}} |
| style="background:#ccf; text-align:center;"
| colspan=2 |International and Foreign Awards |
| {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Inter-american defense board medal ribbon.svg{{!}}border|width=106}} |
| {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=Vietnam Armed Forces Honor Medal ribbon-First Class.svg{{!}}border|width=106}} |
| {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Vietnam Campaign Medal ribbon with 60- clasp.svg{{!}}border|width=106}} |
|valign="top" |
| class="wikitable" |
| style="background:#ccf; text-align:center;"
| colspan=2 |Other Accoutrements |
| align=center | 90px |
| align=center | 90px
|Vietnam Parachutist Badge |
| align=center | 90px |
| align=center | 90px |
| align=center | 85px |
| align=center | 90px |
| align=center | 70px
|United States Army Corps of Engineers Distinctive Unit Insignia |
|}
References
{{Commons category|Howard D. Graves}}
{{Reflist|2}}
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{{succession box |before = Dave Richard Palmer |title = Superintendents of the United States Military Academy |years = 1991–1996|after = Daniel W. Christman }}
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{{United States Military Academy superintendents}}
{{Texas A&M University System chancellors}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graves, Howard D.}}
Category:People from Motley County, Texas
Category:Amarillo High School alumni
Category:United States Military Academy alumni
Category:American Rhodes Scholars
Category:Alumni of St John's College, Oxford
Category:United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War
Category:Recipients of the Air Medal
Category:United States Army Command and General Staff College alumni
Category:United States Army War College alumni
Category:Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United States)
Category:Recipients of the Legion of Merit
Category:United States Army generals
Category:Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal
Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)
Category:Recipients of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal
Category:Superintendents of the United States Military Academy
Category:Chancellors of Texas A&M University System
Category:Deaths from cancer in Texas
Category:Burials at West Point Cemetery