Cpl Larry L. MaxamBurbank High School Alumni
Burbank City Council Meeting Agenda:
Regarding another city park, the council unanimously approved a proposal to rename Pacific Park after the city’s only Medal of Honor recipient, fallen Vietnam War veteran Cpl. Leonard “Larry” Maxam.The proposal introduced by fellow Vietnam veteran Mickey DePalo calls for a plaque and flagpole to be installed before Memorial Day and is estimated to cost $25,000.Parks and Recreation Director Chris Daste read Maxam’s medal citation at the meeting, which described how Maxam gave his life while single-handedly holding off an enemy charge with a machine gun for an hour and a half.
I received this comment and rememberance about Larry Maxam from Jim McGillis - BHS 1966
In Memoriam – Larry MaxamIn the ninth grade at John Muir Junior High, the boys took Metal Shop. Inside, the shop class was like a Gulag factory, with dark, grease-stained windows. There were many obscure and dangerous machines placed around the room. In the middle of the shop, there was a gas-fired forge, roaring away at an unsafe temperature. At one end of the shop, there were long, shared workbenches, where we “slaves to the state” fashioned metalwork of questionable quality and value. Our major project for the semester was to use saws, the forge, grinders and buffers to fashion a metal chisel out of steel bar stock. Wearing heavy gloves, we held red-hot metal with huge tongs. Then we hammered the glowing bar against an anvil until an unknown alchemy was to change a slug into metal art. As they say in the commercials, “Don’t try this at home”. With my fear of the forge showing through, my chisel looked like a misshapen metal lollipop.Sitting next to me at my workbench that year was Larry Maxam. Larry was a handsome young man, with sweptback, black hair and a face that was mature beyond his years. At just the time I became a cinch for a failing grade, Larry handed me his perfectly formed chisel. He had ground, beveled and polished it into an object of metallic perfection.“I already got an ‘A’ on this one”, he said to me with a smile. “Go ahead. You can use it”. While my eyes widened in astonishment, I realized that Larry was the hero I had been waiting for. I received an “A” grade for Larry’s chisel. At the end of the semester, I was not sure if he gave the chisel to me or had intended to lend it to me. Secretly, I kept it as a souvenir. Almost twenty years later, I misused the chisel and damaged it beyond repair. Angry with myself for once again misusing Larry’s gift, I tossed it away.I remember saying, “Hi” to Larry at Burbank High. When we met on the stairs, Larry’s unassuming aura of self-confidence almost bowled me over. My complicity in the chisel incident and the fact that I had secretly kept it made me shy. After he passed by without seeing me, I blurted out his name. Larry stopped on the landing of the Main Stairway. Frozen in the north light from the window above, he turned, looked up at me, then smiled. After that, I lost track of Larry Maxam. Two years ago that I learned of his fate.As soon as he was eighteen, Larry dropped out of Burbank High and joined the Marines. At age nineteen, Larry saw military action in Viet Nam. During one major battle, the Viet Cong threatened to overrun Larry’s company position. Despite taking several direct hits from enemy fire, Larry continued to maintain his position and fire a machine gun until reinforcements arrived. Larry Maxam died on the battlefield. Larry Maxam became the only alumnus of a Burbank school to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, as awarded posthumously by then President Richard M. Nixon.Larry Maxam will always be my hero.-Jim McGillis, BHS Class of '66
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In Memoriam – Larry Maxam
In the ninth grade at John Muir Junior High, the boys took Metal Shop. Inside, the shop class was like a Gulag factory, with dark, grease-stained windows. There were many obscure and dangerous machines placed around the room. In the middle of the shop, there was a gas-fired forge, roaring away at an unsafe temperature. At one end of the shop, there were long, shared workbenches, where we “slaves to the state” fashioned metalwork of questionable quality and value.
Our major project for the semester was to use saws, the forge, grinders and buffers to fashion a metal chisel out of steel bar stock. Wearing heavy gloves, we held red-hot metal with huge tongs. Then we hammered the glowing bar against an anvil until an unknown alchemy was to change a slug into metal art. As they say in the commercials, “Don’t try this at home”. With my fear of the forge showing through, my chisel looked like a misshapen metal lollipop.
Sitting next to me at my workbench that year was Larry Maxam. Larry was a handsome young man, with sweptback, black hair and a face that was mature beyond his years. At just the time I became a cinch for a failing grade, Larry handed me his perfectly formed chisel. He had ground, beveled and polished it into an object of metallic perfection.
“I already got an ‘A’ on this one”, he said to me with a smile. “Go ahead. You can use it”. While my eyes widened in astonishment, I realized that Larry was the hero I had been waiting for. I received an “A” grade for Larry’s chisel. At the end of the semester, I was not sure if he gave the chisel to me or had intended to lend it to me. Secretly, I kept it as a souvenir. Almost twenty years later, I misused the chisel and damaged it beyond repair. Angry with myself for once again misusing Larry’s gift, I tossed it away.
I remember saying, “Hi” to Larry at Burbank High. When we met on the stairs, Larry’s unassuming aura of self-confidence almost bowled me over. My complicity in the chisel incident and the fact that I had secretly kept it made me shy. After he passed by without seeing me, I blurted out his name. Larry stopped on the landing of the Main Stairway. Frozen in the north light from the window above, he turned, looked up at me, then smiled. After that, I lost track of Larry Maxam. Two years ago that I learned of his fate.
As soon as he was eighteen, Larry dropped out of Burbank High and joined the Marines. At age nineteen, Larry saw military action in Viet Nam. During one major battle, the Viet Cong threatened to overrun Larry’s company position. Despite taking several direct hits from enemy fire, Larry continued to maintain his position and fire a machine gun until reinforcements arrived. Larry Maxam died on the battlefield.
Larry Maxam became the only alumnus of a Burbank school to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, as awarded posthumously by then President Richard M. Nixon.
Larry Maxam will always be my hero.
-Jim McGillis, BHS Class of '66
Thanks for a great journal entry Jim. Hope to see you at Larry L. Maxam Memorial Park on April 17th. I'm sure you already knew.
See you all there.
Gary J. Saldutti
(Larry's first cousin)
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