Toby Graham

Dominick Stuart "Toby" Graham, (24 July 1920 – 8 March 2013) was a British Army officer, cross-country Olympic skier and university professor. He is best known for his collaboration with British military historian Shelford Bidwell.

A wartime graduate of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Graham served in the Royal Artillery during the Second World War. He was wounded twice, spent time as a prisoner of war in Italy, and was awarded the Military Cross in 1945. After the war he served with the British Army of the Rhine, and represented Great Britain in cross-country skiing at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

After leaving the army in 1958, Graham moved to Canada, where he taught high school maths in Saint John, New Brunswick. He earned his Master's degree from the University of New Brunswick in 1965, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of London in 1969. He taught military history at the University of New Brunswick until his 1986 retirement, at which point he was named professor emeritus, and returned to England.

Early life Dominick Stuart Graham was born in Yeovil, England, on 24 July 1920, the son of Colonel Fergus Reginald Winsford Graham and Egeria Marion Spottiswood Baker. His father was a soldier who had served in Northern Ireland, the Middle East and China. In 1940 he was sent to Narvik during the Norwegian campaign to command an anti-aircraft battery, and was wounded during an air raid.

In July 1942, Graham was serving as a Forward Observer (FOO) near Tobruk, Libya, during the Western Desert campaign, when his vehicle was hit, and he was taken prisoner by the Germans, and sent to a prisoner of war camp in Italy. and awarded the Military Cross on 19 April 1945.

After the war Graham served as an instructor at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and then as a staff officer with the 6th Armoured Division in the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). He commanded the British Army's first missile-equipped artillery battery. and major on 4 November 1952. He married Valerie Mary Greig on 18 October 1947; they had two daughters, Anita Caroline and Patricia Robin.

Skiing career Graham represented Great Britain in cross-country skiing at the 1956 Winter Olympics at Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy, where he finished 29th of 33 competitors in the men's 50 kilometres. and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of London on the same topic in 1969.

Graham taught military history at the University of New Brunswick until 1986, when his marriage broke up and he decided to retire and return to England. He received the news of his appointment as emeritus while climbing K2 in the Himalayas. He married his childhood sweetheart, Mary Hawson in 1991, and they settled in Yorkshire, where he worked on her family estate and gardens. After she died he travelled by container ship to visit his daughter in New Zealand. The only other passenger aboard the ship was Ursula Behringer, and they were married in 2002.