He served in the First World War with the 25th Infantry Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force and was wounded at Gallipoli.
In the Second World War, Graves founded and led the Australian Jungle Rescue Detachment of 60 soldiers, which was attached to the Far East American Airforce.
Aside from poetry and adventure novels for children, he wrote ten classic books on camping and bushcraft, now published in a single volume.
See also https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=403485 (accessed 31 January 2021) for official records of Lieutenant Richard Graves’ initiation, command and development of an Australian Jungle Training Detachment (AJTD), including its evolved rescue role in NG, DNG and the Philippines.
(2020) KAIS: The true story of a daring rescue of a bomber crew from the swamps of New Guinea, summer 1944, Van Kinsbergen Publishing.