   lieutenant colonel sir (john) reginald noble graham, 3rd baronet vc obe (17 september 1892 &ndash; 6 december 1980) was a british recipient of the victoria cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to british and commonwealth forces, "for most conspicuous bravery, coolness and resource when in command of a machine gun section."supplement to the london gazette, 14 september 1917 he was the eldest son of sir frederick graham, 2nd baronet, and was educated at eton college and trinity college, cambridge. soon after the first world war broke out he joined the british army and was posted to 9th battalion, the argyll and sutherland highlanders (princess louise's). in 1916 he was seconded to 136 company, machine gun corps, which was sent to mesopotamia. during the samarrah offensive lieutenant graham was in command of a machine-gun section which was co-operating with the 56th punjabi rifles (frontier force) near istabulat on the evening of 22 april 1917: :lt. graham accompanied his guns across open ground, under very heavy rifle and machine gun fire, and when his men became casualties, he assisted in carrying the ammunition.although twice wounded he continued during the advance to control his guns and was able, with one gun, to open an accurate fire on the enemy, who were massing for a counter-attack. this gun was put out of action by the enemy's rifle fire, and he was again wounded. the advancing enemy forced him to retire, but before doing so he further disabled his gun, rendering it useless.he then brought a lewis gun into action with excellent effect till all the ammunition was expended. he was again severely wounded, and forced through loss of blood to retire.his valour and skilful handling of his guns held up a strong counter-attack which threatened to roll up the left flank of the brigade, and thus averted what might have been a very critical situation. after recovering from his severe wounds captai
1892_births 1980_deaths Alumni_of_Trinity_College,_Cambridge Argyll_and_Sutherland_Highlanders_officers Baronets_in_the_Baronetage_of_the_United_Kingdom British_Army_personnel_of_World_War_I British_Army_personnel_of_World_War_II British_Army_recipients_of_the_Victoria_Cross British_World_War_I_recipients_of_the_Victoria_Cross Machine_Gun_Corps_officers Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire People_educated_at_Eton_College People_from_Kolkata Recipients_of_King_Haakon_VII\'s_Cross_of_Liberty