Howard D. Graves

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. 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.

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. 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 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.

Awards and decorations U.S. military decorationsDefense Distinguished Service MedalArmy Distinguished Service Medal (with oak leaf cluster)Defense Superior Service MedalLegion of Merit (with oak leaf cluster)Bronze Star (with two bronze oak leaf clusters)Meritorious Service Medal (with oak leaf cluster) Air Medal (with bronze award numeral 4)Army Commendation MedalU.S. and foreign unit awardsMeritorious Unit Commendation (with bronze oak leaf cluster)South Vietnamese Gallantry Cross Unit CitationSouth Vietnamese Civil Actions CitationU.S. service (campaign) medals and service and training ribbonsNational Defense Service Medal (with bronze service star)Armed Forces Expeditionary MedalVietnam Service Medal with four service starsArmy Service RibbonArmy Overseas Service RibbonInternational and Foreign AwardsInter-American Defense Board MedalVietnam Armed Forces Honor Medal 1st ClassVietnam Campaign MedalOther Accoutrements