Private First Class O'Grady was a member of Company B, 74th Engineer Combat Battalion, U.S. Army. On 16 April 1953, during the construction of Libby Bridge across the Imjin River, the boat in which he was working overturned throwing its five occupants into the river. He saw a Korean worker struggling amid ropes and swam over to assist him. He was caught in the current and drowned.

O'Grady was awarded the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.