John Graef

Johann Graef known to many as "John or Johnny" from Irvine, CA was born in a small town in the Austrian Alps in 1947. He immigrated with his family in 1953 to the United States and settled in California where he graduated from Gardena High School. In 1967 he become a U.S. Citizen and proudly joined the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam and South Korea as a CID Special Investigator. He was part of the negotiation team for the 1968 USS Pueblo incident with the release of the 82 U.S. Navy POW's. He began his insurance career in the 1970's and retired after 35 years as a Senior Vice President of Marsh & McLennan Agency. John is preceded in death by wife Gayle who passed away in 2012, his sister Ilse who passed away in 2002 and nephew Arthur who passed away in 2022. He is survived by his children Sonja, Rebecca, Brandon, Grandchildren, Sommer & Evan, Great-grandson Jonathan, His sister Roswitha, Nephew Tobias, Niece Isabelle, Grand-nieces Samantha, Alessandra, Grand-nephew Presley, and his first wife, Susan. John's service was held at 2:00pm, Monday February 13, 2023 at Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego with a second Private Family Burial at Sea on February 26, 2023.