Frances Lyon Devers and Alexander Graham

ALEXANDER GRAHAM, son of ADA JUNE HOUCK and WILLIAM ALEXANDER GRAHAM, was born January 11, 1909 in Des Moines, Polk, Iowa,^{1950, 13} and died November 27, 1977 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.⁴⁵⁶

He married FRANCES LYON DEVERS on August 2, 1935 in Fort Myer, Virginia,¹²⁰ daughter of GEORGIA LYON and GEN. JACOB L. DEVERS. She was born July 20, 1917 in Schofield Barracks, Oahu County, Hawaii,¹³ and died August 5, 1986 in Washington, District of Columbia.¹²⁰ She is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.^{120, 456}

• Descendant Reports
  • William Scott Descendant Report (Ancestor of Alexander Graham)

Washington Post, July 27, 1935¹²⁰

Miss Devers To Wed in Fall

Lieut. Alexander Graham to Marry Daughter of Army Officer.

Announcement is made by Lieut. Col. and Mrs. Jacob Loucks Devers, of Fort Myer, of the betrothal of their daughter, Miss Frances Lyon Devers, to Lieut. Alexander Graham, son of Col. William Alexander Graham of the Judge Advocate General's Department. No date has been set for the marriage, which probably will be solemnized late in the fall.

Col. and Mrs. Devers were stationed at Fort Hoyle, Md., previous to coming to Fort Myer, where they have been for the past year. Lieut. Graham was graduated from West Point in 1932 and is at present stationed at Fort Myer with the Sixteenth Field Artillery. He will leave with his regiment next week for Indian Town Gap, Pa., and will return to Fort Myer the latter part of September.

Washington Post, August 1, 1935¹²⁰

Frances L. Devers Will Become Bride

Wedding to Lieut. Graham Set for Tomorrow.

The chapel at Fort Myer, Va., will be the scene of the wedding tomorrow night of Miss Frances Lyon Devers, daughter of Lieut. Col. and Mrs. Jacob L. Devers, of Fort Myer, and Lieut. Alexander Graham, son of Col. and Mrs. Alexander Graham. Chaplain Ralph C. Deibert will officiate.

Miss Jean Shuler, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George K. Shuler, will be maid of honor, and Lieut. Beverly D. Jones, son of Col. and Mrs. DeWitt C. Jones, will be the best man. The ushers will include Lieut. David G. Ersking, Lieut. Frank S. Henry, Lieut. John C. Seaman, Lieut. Richard E. Weber, Lieut. Marshall W. Frame and Lieut. Henry King, all of Fort Myer.

Lieut. Graham and his bride will sail August 21 on the President Harding for France, where Lieut. Graham will take special courses in French. Upon his return he will become a modern language instructor at West Point.

Waterloo Daily Courier, January 13, 1909¹⁹⁵⁰

Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Graham of Des Moines are rejoicing over the arrival of a baby son, born Monday.

Des Moines Tribune, April 19, 1945⁶³³⁸

He Wanted To Be Soldier

Col. Alexander Graham, 36, a native of Des Moines, always wanted to be a soldier.

As a boy of 7 dressed in a uniform and carrying a wooden rifle, he stood retreat with his father's company of the Iowa national guard when it was on duty on the Mexican border in 1916.

Brig. Gen. Charles H. Grahl this week recalled how young Alexander cried when officers of the company wouldn't let him march with the outfit on battalion parades.

Today Colonel Graham is artillery commander of the famous 4th armored division, Gen. George S. Patton's spearhead and breakthrough division in Germany.

Colonel Graham as artillery commander of the division has been decorated several times. He received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the oak leaf cluster and teh Croix de Guerre with Palm.

General Grahl and Col. Arthur T. Wallace, chief of staff of the Iowa state guard, recalled some of the steps in the rise of the former Des Moines boy "who knew as a youngster just what he wanted to do."

Colonel Graham is the son of Col. William A. Graham, United States army, retired, now of Pacific Palisades, Cal., and Mrs. Graham, who died in April, 1935. Mrs. Graham, before her marriage, was Ada Houck, principal of the old Capital Park High school here. Alexander's father was a Des Moines attorney.

Alexander followed his father on several national guard assignments, including one to the Phillippine islands where he won his appointment to West Point in 1928.

Alexander remained in the army and in 1935 married Frances Devers, daughter of Gen. Jacob Devers, and was sent to France on a "language detail" for a year. Returning from there, he was made an instructor in French at West Point for three years.

In 1941, as a captain, he was transferred to Camp Jackson, S. C., where the armored divisions were being formed. After he went overseas he was promoted to major in 1942, to lieutenant colonel in 1943, and to colonel on his birthday anniversary, Jan. 9, 1945.

Washington Post, December 1, 1977

World War II Artillery Officer

Retired Col. Alexander Graham, 68, who began life on an Army post, commanded an artillery battalion in World War II, and married a general's daughter, died Sunday in Philadelphia, where he had gone to watch the Army-Navy football game. He had suffered from a heart condition for some years.

Col. Graham, whose father was a colonel before him, was born in an Army post in Iowa. He graduated from the Military Academy at West Point in 1932, and was commissioned in the field artillery. His first assignment was at Ft. Myer, and there he met and married Frances Lyon Devers, the daughter of Gen. Jacob L. Devers. In World War II, Col. Graham commanded a field artillery battalion in the 4th Armored Division. He participated in the campaigns across France and into Germany and Czechoslovakia.

His decorations included the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart, the French Croix de Guerre, the Belgian Croix de Guerre, and the Order of Leopold from Luxembourg.

Col. Graham's postwar assignments included duty in Japan and in this country, including the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pa. He replaced on the temporary disability retired list in 1962 because of a heart condition, and was retired in 1967.

That year Col. Graham earned a master's degree in business administration from American University. But he devoted most of his time since leaving the Army to various veterans organizations, including the 4th Armored Division Association, of which he was past president, the Military Order of World Wars, the Military Order of the Caraboa and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Survivors include his wife, of the home in Washington.

(page B14)

Washington Post, December 4, 1977⁶⁴¹⁰

GRAHAM, ALEXANDER, COL. US ARMY (Ret.)

On Sunday, November 27, 1977, COL. ALEXANDER GRAHAM, of Washington, D.C., beloved husband of Frances Devers Graham; brother of Dr. William Alexander Graham, of E. Liverpool, Ohio; son-in-law of Gen. and Mrs. Jacob L. Devers. Friends may call at JOSEPH GAWLERS SONS, 5130 Wisconsin Ace., at Harrison St n.w. (parking on premises) on Sunday, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Services will be held at The Ft. Myer Chapel, Ft. Myer Va., on Monday, December 5, at 2 p.m. Interment Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. The family requests memorials to your favorite charity.

Washington Post, August 8, 1986¹²⁰

GRAHAM, FRANCES DEVERS

On Tuesday, August 5, 1986 of Washington, D. C.; wife of the late Col. Alexander Graham; niece of Catherine S. Devers and Margaret Lyon Smith; also survived by several cousins. Friends may call at JOSEPH GAWLER'S SONS, 5130 Wisconsin ave. at Harrison st. nw. (parking on premises), 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday. Service will be held at Fort Myer Chapel, Fort Myer, Va. on Monday, August 11 at 11 a.m. Interment Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Washington Humane Society, 7319 Georgia ave., nw., Washington, D.C. 20012