Bob Maxwell

Several dozen family members, friends and acquaintances gathered Monday to watch as the Department of Veterans Affairs Bend VA Outpatient Clinic was renamed in honor of Robert D. Maxwell on what would have been the Medal of Honor recipient’s 100th birthday.

“Today marks a point where we are recognizing a veteran in the community of other veterans at a clinic designed to care for them,” said Darvin Goodspeed, the director of the VA Portland Health Care System. “It is named after someone in the community, a name they all recognize, and that many of them knew and respected.”

Speakers shared touching stories of a “Bob” Maxwell who as a 23-year-old Army technician jumped on a German grenade in 1944 during World War II and whose impact as was felt as an educator and veterans advocate in Central Oregon. The resounding message was that it was an honor to be associated with him and he was a man fit to have a veterans’ clinic named in his honor.

The roughly 30-minute ceremony featured multiple speakers, including J.W. Terry, a retired U.S. Navy veteran and executive director of the Central Oregon Veterans Outreach, U.S. Rep. Greg Walden and fellow Medal of Honor recipient Leroy Petry.

Congress unanimously approved the redesignation of the Bend’s Veterans Affairs Clinic in Maxwell’s name earlier this month, and a copy of the bill that was signed into law on Oct. 13 was framed and presented to Maxwell’s family at the event.

“If he was here he would say ‘don’t make a big deal out of it,’” said Linda Maxwell, Maxwell’s daughter. “He would be humbled and appreciative of it all,” added Maxwell’s daughter Bonnie Spies.

Before Maxwell died on May 11, 2019, at the age of 98, he was the oldest living recipient of the Medal of Honor. The medal is the nation’s highest personal military decoration, awarded to service members for acts of valor.

Maxwell was active and an instrumental part in veterans programs, including the Bend Heroes Foundation, the Bend Parade of Flags, Bend Heroes Memorial, WWII Veterans Historic Highway, Oregon Medal of Honor Highway, Wreaths Across America, and the Character Development Program at Bend High.

“The Medal of Honor carries the weight of true heroes,” said Walden during his speech at the ceremony.

Maxwell taught auto repair at Bend High, and at Central Oregon and Lane community colleges. As a veteran, he was an invaluable resource for incoming teachers who were starting teaching careers after the military, especially with teaching high school kids rather than soldiers.

“There is a big difference,” said Terry who leaned on Maxwell’s insight as he was making a similar transition from active duty in the Navy to becoming an educator at Mountain View High. “One of the things is listening. Sometimes it is not always best to impart your smartness but having to listen to what they said. That was a great lesson.”