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Francis Mc Graw graduated from Camden Catholic High School in Cherry Hill, New Jersey with the class of 1937. He worked as a packer at the Campbell Soup Company while living at home.

He enlisted on 25 February 1942 and joined his unit as an early replacement on 26 December 1942 while the 1st Infantry Division was in North Africa.

Pfc. Mc Graw participated in the fighting at Ousseltia Valley, Kairouan Pass, Gafsa, El Geuttar, Beja, and Mateur. Next he was part of the invasion of Sicily. He landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, fought in the Normandy hedgerows and advanced across France to the Hürtgen Forest.

Pfc. Mc Graw's unit was part of an attack that began on 16 November 1944. The Americans took heavy casualties over the next three days, including Mc Graw's company commander. The Germans decided to counterattack on 19 November. Pfc Mc Graw played a major roll in stopping the enemy attack. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

The citiation for his Medal of Honor stated: 'The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pride in presenting the Medal of Honor (Posthumously) to Private First Class Francis Xavier McGraw, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Company H, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. Private First Class McGraw manned a heavy machinegun emplaced in a foxhole near Schevenhutte, Germany, on 19 November 1944, when the enemy launched a fierce counterattack. Braving an intense hour-long preparatory barrage, he maintained his stand and poured deadly accurate fire into the advancing foot troops until they faltered and came to a halt. The hostile forces brought up a machinegun in an effort to dislodge him but were frustrated when he lifted his gun to an exposed but advantageous position atop a log, courageously stood up in his foxhole and knocked out the enemy weapon. A rocket blasted his gun from position, but he retrieved it and continued firing. He silenced a second machinegun and then made repeated trips over fire-swept terrain to replenish his ammunition supply. Wounded painfully in this dangerous task, he disregarded his injury and hurried back to his post, where his weapon was showered with mud when another rocket barely missed him. In the midst of the battle, with enemy troops taking advantage of his predicament to press forward, he calmly cleaned his gun, put it back into action and drove off the attackers. He continued to fire until his ammunition was expended, when, with a fierce desire to close with the enemy, he picked up a carbine, killed one enemy soldier, wounded another and engaged in a desperate firefight with a third until he was mortally wounded by a burst from a machine pistol. The extraordinary heroism and intrepidity displayed by Private McGraw inspired his comrades to great efforts and was a major factor in repulsing the enemy attack.'