LCPL Andrew Maxey
June 8th 1996 - Dec. 23rd 2020
To the ‘boys on the block’, we see you, we hear you... fellow Marines, past and present, Corpsmen and fellow veterans, as the hammer has been picked up, we can promise you all it’ll drop hard...
Long before Andrew Maxey joined the Airline baseball team, he was “eat up” with baseball with dreams of being the best catcher on the planet, according to his parents.
As a youngster, he would sleep in his baseball uniform on pregame nights appearing at games disheveled but eager to throw, hit and run the bases. Maxey once got a knight costume for Christmas and hid the chest protector and helmet in his bat bag.
“When we got to the field, he asked his coach if he could catch,” Martha Maxey said. “When the coach said ‘yes,’ he went and retrieved his knight outfit from the bag, put it on and got behind home plate.”
But Lance Corporal Andrew Maxey, 24, a hardcore, dedicated Marine for the past four years, is now catching heavenly pop-ups after a pair of strokes erased his bright future when he died at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.
“Andrew wasn’t perfect – he didn’t always keep his elbows off the table – but he was a Christian who loved life and loved fellowshipping with people,” said his father, Paul Maxey. “I’m proud to say God gifted us with him for 24 years.”
The strapping, 6-foot-3, 210-pound Maxey was one of just six freshmen to pitch for Airline coach Toby Todd in his 21 seasons.
“Andrew was a great kid – friendly, happy, kind-hearted,” Todd said. “He was on varsity all four years.”
After earning Times All-City and All-District honors during his days on Viking Drive and graduating in 2015, Maxey wanted to become a Marine infantryman, but
the Corps had other ideas after seeing his size.
“They told him he was big, strapping and ugly and he needed to be a machine gunner,” Paul Maxey said. “It didn’t come naturally to him, but he worked hard at it and began training younger guys how to do it.”
After school, he joined the United States Marine Corps and reported to the Marine Corps Recruit depot at Parris Island, South Carolina, on July 24, 2017. After his graduation from recruit training at the School of Infantry, he reported for duty with Third Battalion, Sixth Marine Regiment, Second Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina on February 2, 2018. There he was assigned to Combined Anti-Armor Team Two as a machine gunner and a vehicle commander. He deployed to and participated in multiple training exercises in both Okinawa and Japan. Andrew was commonly known as one of the best machine gunners in the battalion. He was often found behind a heavy machine gun, imparting wisdom to his subordinates or refining his craft. Andrew had a bigger than life personality, was outgoing, and funny with his sharp sense of humor. He was fun loving and knew how to lighten tension and put people at ease, making hard situations or bad days, not so bad. Mostly, whether to his team, friends, family, or country, he was fiercely loyal. Lance Corporal Andrew Joseph Maxey was a most beloved husband, son, brother, family member, friend, and Marine. Andrew will be missed every day
"He was the kind of man that would always be cracking jokes no matter how shitty the situation got, we could be 10 days into an op hiking through a swamp at 2 am and you could always count on him to have some funny ass shit to lighten the mood. Along with that he was also a hell of a machine gunner, I've never seen anyone come close to the gunnery he had on the MK19, it's like they were meant to be together, both nasty beasts but both super efficient and effective at their job. He was a great dude. Cancer definitely stole one of the boys from all of us."
Maxey became ill around Thanksgiving and never made it home for the crawfish pasta. He did, however, share pizza on his hospital bed with his father.
“One of the last things he did, as he was struggling, was squeeze my hand and say, ‘I’m tough, daddy,’” Paul Maxey said. “Many of the Marines we spoke with about our son had tears in their eyes. They said he was an honorable and passionate young man who set an example for others.”
“Andrew is at peace now and we have a lot to be thankful for. He was a patriot.”