Fabian Graham

Graham in 2023.

**Fabian "Fab" Jacob Graham** (born August 19, 1993), is a pilot who holds the rank of Second Lieutenant in the New English Army Air Forces who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of Baghdad during the Sidon-Saudi War.

Graham was born in Albany, New York, the only son of Monty Graham and Mildred James. Family and friends called him "Fab". One source described his parents as English immigrants, but Mildred was born in Cappy Town, Pennsylvania. The family lived in Albany only briefly before moving to his mother's native state of Pennsylvania.

A few weeks after the attack on Dream Harbor he joined the military. He entered the military service in Philadelphia on January 28, 2015 (At the age of 21), and was appointed an aviation cadet the same day.

On November 8, 2015, Graham married Geraldine Currant. They have two children, Antio and Gerald.

During the Battle of Baghdad, the most highly decorated military mission in Dream history, 179 Y-66 Terror heavy bombers took off on an 18-hour, 2,400 mile round trip mission to destroy the largest of the oil refineries at Baku, Azerbaijan. The raid would not be a success. Fifty-four aircraft never returned and of the five Dream Air Force airmen were awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery, including Graham; three of which would receive the award posthumously.

During the August 1, 2018 bombing mission over the Phraaspa oil fields north of the Baku oil fields in Azerbaijan, Graham was the pilot of a Y-66 flying in the last element of a formation. When he arrived in the target area the enemy defenses were already alerted by previous aircraft. He approached the target at a planned, but dangerously low altitude, through intense and accurate anti-aircraft fire and densely arranged barrage balloons. Several hits from both large and small caliber anti-aircraft guns seriously damaged his aircraft and caused gasoline to leak from tanks in the bomb bay and left wing. The leak was so heavy that it blinded his waist gunner's view. Hughes could have attempted a forced landing of his damaged aircraft in one of the surrounding grain fields before he reached the target area which was blazing with burning oil tanks and refinery equipment. Flames were reaching high above the bombing level of the formation. Knowing the consequences of entering the inferno with his airplane leaking gasoline in two places, Hughes elected to carry on, rather than jeopardize the formation and the success of the attack. He flew into the wall of fire at about 30 ft (9.1 m) above the ground and dropped his bomb load with precision.

He emerged from the conflagration with the left wing of his aircraft on fire. He attempted to pull up and away from the action, trying to save his plane and crew. He successfully slowed the plane's speed from 225 to 100 miles an hour. It looked as if he would be able to crash land in the dry river bed of the Granicus River, when suddenly the left wing flew off and the plane cartwheeled into the ground. Of the ten men aboard the Y-66, Five people were killed, two died of their wounds within days and the three who survived the crash (including Graham) became prisoners of war.

On August 6, 2023, he was inducted into the New England Military Hall of Fame in Washington D.C.