02/27/2026
On this day, 59 years ago, February 26, 1967, 35âyearâold First Sergeant Maximo Yabes was commanding Company A, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, providing security for a landâclearing operation near Phu Hoa D**g in Binh Duong Province, Republic of Vietnam. He was a veteran leader with 17 years in the Army, stationed at Cu Chi Base Camp northwest of Saigon, overseeing his companyâs perimeter defenses as bulldozers and engineers pushed into enemy territory, a routine but dangerous mission prone to sudden Viet Cong attacks. Early in the morning, a numerically superior Viet Cong battalion struck the companyâs position from three sides, their assault preceded by intense automaticâweapons and mortar fire, whistles piercing the air as the enemy breached the barbedâwire perimeter. Grenades began landing inside the defensive line, several detonating directly in and around the company command post bunker, where the leadership group was coordinating the defense and calling for support. Yabes, hearing the explosions and shouts, sprinted to the command bunker, arriving as more enemy gr***des rolled in through the open entrance, the fuses burning and the occupants scrambling for cover inside the confined space. He shouted a warning to the men inside, then positioned his body in the entranceway, using himself as a human shield to block the gr***des and absorb the blasts, his frame taking the full force of the fragmentation as the devices exploded against him. Fragments tore into his legs, torso, and arms, inflicting painful but nonâfatal wounds, yet he remained on his feet, ignoring the blood and shock, refusing to leave the bunker or let the enemy pe*******on continue. He moved to a second nearby bunker fifty meters away, grabbing a gr***de launcher from a fallen comrade, and fired pointâblank into the advancing Viet Cong assault force, halting their momentum and stopping further pe*******on of the perimeter line. Noticing two wounded Marines lying helpless in the fireâswept area between the bunkers, exposed to the enemyâs withering fire, he dashed out under heavy automaticâweapons fire, reached the casualties, and dragged them one at a time to a safer position behind cover where corpsmen could treat them. Returning to his firing position, he resumed accurate and effective fire with the gr***de launcher, killing several enemy soldiers and forcing others to pull back from the vicinity of the command post, buying time for his company to reorganize. As the battle raged on, he spotted an enemy machine gun that had been emplaced inside the perimeter, its crew firing into the American defenders and threatening the entire companyâs ability to hold the line. On his own initiative, Yabes charged across the exposed, bulletâswept ground toward the machineâgun nest, assaulting the position under a hail of fire, killing the entire crew in close combat, destroying the weapon, and silencing the threat before collapsing from his accumulated wounds. The company, inspired by his relentless leadership, repelled the assault, killing over 113 Viet Cong while losing 24 Americans, the perimeter holding thanks to Yabesâ actions that disrupted the enemyâs coordinated attack. For his actions on February 26, 1967, near Phu Hoa D**g, Republic of Vietnam, First Sergeant Maximo Yabes was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the United Statesâ highest military decoration for valor. Maximo Yabes was buried with full military honors at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.
