CORPORAL
LARRY LEONARD MAXAM, USMC (DECEASED) 
 

Medal of Honor Citation

Larry Leonard Maxam, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam in February 1968, was born 9 January 1948, in Glendale, California. He attended Emerson Primary School, and Burbank Junior and High Schools, in Burbank, California, leaving the latter in 1964.

He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, in Los Angeles, on 8 March 1965. Completing recruit training with the 3d Recruit Training Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California, in June 1965, he served briefly with the Casual Section, Headquarters Company, 2d Infantry Training Regiment, Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California. He then completed individual combat training with Company A, 2d Infantry Training Regiment, at Camp Pendleton, in July 1965.

From August 1965 until February 1966, he served with the Marine Aviation Detachment, Naval Air Technical Training Center, Jacksonville, Florida.

Transferred to the 2d Battalion, 8th Marines, 2d Marine Division, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, he served as a rifleman with Company H. In November 1966, he joined the rolls of Company E, 2d Battalion, but served on temporary additional duty as a fireman with Headquarters and Service Company, Officer Candidates’ School, Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Virginia, and as a rifleman attached to Camp Garcia, Force Troops, Vieques Island, Puerto Rico. He was promoted to private first class, 1 April 1966, and to lance corporal, 1 January 1967.

Lance Corporal Maxam next served as a rifleman with Company F, Battalion Landing Team 2/8, in the Caribbean, until May 1967.

In July 1967, he arrived in the Republic of Vietnam, and served as a rifleman, radioman, and squad leader with Company D, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 3d Marine Division. He was promoted to corporal, 1 October 1967. While participating in Operation Kentucky on 2 February 1968, he was killed in action at Cam Lo District Headquarters, Quang Tri Province.

A complete list of his medals and decorations include: the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart, the Presidential Unit Citation, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with two bronze stars, the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm, the Military Merit Medal (Vietnamese), and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Vietnam War 1965-1973 Medal of Honor