I hope people talked about Max Yabes today

This is a rubbing from the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C. If you ever get the opportunity, you should go walk that V shape and see the names. Max is there.

I wanted to say something about this before Memorial Day ends. The Max Yabes story is one of my favorites from 37 years in Oregon journalism because of the way it turned out. Max got the attention and distinction he deserved, and a little town that had been economically gut punched by the timber wars stood up and welcomed him home. They’re taking care of him still, I’m glad to say.

I won’t go through the whole story here, just the highlights. I found Max’s name in this booklet, which was one of the many source and directory books we had in the newsroom library (pre-Internet) at the Register-Guard newspaper in Eugene, Ore.

I found Max’s name in the state Vietnam memorial booklet, saw he was from a town I covered, and that he’d won the Medal of Honor. I’m a native Oregonian, and I’d never heard of him. And I thought, What the hell?, which is always a good story spur.

It turned out at least one of Max’s old friends from high school – part of the “Java Joes” buddies group, as they called themselves – was still around Oakridge. I went to see him and the wonderful story unfolded from there.

The man showed me a scrapbook and told me about his friend Max and about their days in Oakridge. “Look at me,” the rough old timberman said, “60 years old and almost a-bawlin’.”

In the story, I said Max was like the prophet who is not without honor “save in his own country.”

Max had dropped out of Oakridge High School in 1950 and joined the Army. Because he didn’t graduate, he wasn’t eligible to be added to the school’s hall of fame. He was killed in combat in 1967. Over the course of 30 years or so, people forgot about him.

After I wrote about him for the R-G, people in town got together and agreed, in effect, to do right by Max Yabes. They organized, exchanged ideas, raised money and hired a sculptor to do a bust of Max. They set it in a beautiful park in town and it’s there to this day.

The Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs has a nice link to Max’s story.

I contacted George Custer, the editor of the Highway 58 Herald, the fine news outlet in town, and asked how Max was doing.

George replied: “Not only am I the editor here at The Herald, I’m also a member of the American Legion Post 64, Max Yabes Chapter. 

“During our last meeting, a detail was selected to check the status of the memorial, as we do a couple of times a year. Our Post is responsible for its care and maintenance. It’s doing fine. We sometimes have a veterans’ event at the monument and read aloud Maximo’s citation.”

George kindly sent along some photos of the memorial. Here’s one:

Happy Memorial Day, First Sgt. Maximo Yabes. Thank you.