Robert D. Maxwell

Robert Dale Maxwell (October 26, 1920 – May 11, 2019) was a United States Army combat soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration for valor—the Medal of Honor—for his heroism in France during World War II.

Maxwell was born on October 26, 1920, in Boise, Idaho.

He was raised by his grandparents on their farm in Quinter, Kansas.

He dropped out of school in the seventh grade to help his family on their farm.

During the Great Depression, his family traveled to Oregon to pick fruit, but ran out of money on the way back to Kansas so they settled in Colorado.

Maxwell was drafted into the United States Army and entered service from Larimer County, Colorado, in June 1941.

He was offered and refused "conscientious objector" status by the army for being a Quaker.

He received basic training at Camp Roberts, California and training in advanced infantry tactics at Camp Meade in Maryland.

In February 1942, Maxwell was sent overseas and landed in North Africa at Casablanca with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.

He was assigned to Headquarters Company as a battalion communications technician, a "wire man."

He carried a heavy roll of cable and was tasked with stringing phone lines to the command post.

He began the war armed with a M1 Garand rifle, but was later reclassified as a non-combatant and carried only a .45 caliber pistol.

After participating in the North African Campaign with his unit, Maxwell took part in the Allied invasion of Sicily on July 10, 1943, marching to Palermo, and on to Messina.

The 7th Infantry then landed at Salerno in September shortly after the Allied invasion of mainland Italy and fought northwards to an area near Cassino.

During the early stages of the subsequent Battle of Anzio in January 1944, Private First Class Maxwell repaired damaged wire lines to maintain communication under intense artillery fire for over three hours on January 31 and was wounded in the leg.

For his actions under fire that day, he was awarded the Silver Star.

He spent the next few months recovering at a hospital in Naples.

Maxwell rejoined his unit in time for the invasion of southern France (Operation Dragoon) in August 1944 and the following advance inland.

On September 7, near Besançon in eastern France, Technician Fifth Grade (Corporal) Maxwell, while under enemy fire, risked his life in order to protect the lives of other soldiers by falling on an enemy hand grenade and absorbing the blast with his body.

He also received an oak leaf cluster to his Silver Star, which was awarded for an earlier action on September 7, 1944.

After the war, Maxwell enrolled in vocational school for two years in Eugene, Oregon to be an auto mechanic.

After his training, he worked a two-year apprenticeship for an Oldsmobile car dealership in Redmond, Oregon.

He survived the wounds from the grenade blast and was awarded the Medal of Honor on April 6, 1945.

The medal was presented to him by Major General Clarence Danielson at the Camp Carson Convalescent Hospital in Colorado on May 12.

During this time, he met Beatrice, and they married on August 12, 1951.

He then taught auto mechanics at Bend High School in Bend, Oregon and later helped establish an auto mechanics program at Central Oregon Community College.

From 1966 through 1986, Maxwell taught auto mechanics at Lane Community College in Eugene.

He was honored in 1970 as one of 5,000 outstanding educators.

In 2011, at the age of 90, he received his high school diploma from Bend Senior High School.

In 2012, Maxwell suffered a minor stroke, but recovered after only a few days with only minor loss of functionality of his right hand.

He continued as the director of the non-profit Bend Heroes Foundation.

After retiring, Maxwell resided in Bend, Oregon until his death.

He died in Bend on May 11, 2019, at the age of 98.

At the time of his death, he was the only Medal of Honor recipient residing in Oregon.

Maxwell’s memorial service was held on May 31, 2019.

So, many people were expected to attend that the service was held at the Deschutes County fairgrounds in Redmond, a few miles north of Bend.

A local television station broadcast the memorial service live for those who could not attend the memorial service in person.

Maxwell was buried in Pioneer Cemetery in Terrebonne, Oregon.

Maxwell's military awards and decorations include:

Maxwell's official Medal of Honor citation reads: