Highway 20 Oregon Medal of Honor Highway dedication – Public is invited!
The nation’s oldest living Medal of Honor recipient, Robert D. “Bob” Maxwell, a WWII Army veteran, from Bend, will participate in a ceremony at the Newport City Hall, 169 SW Coast Highway, on Monday, October 30, dedicating the Oregon Medal of Honor Highway, Highway 20. The ceremony begins in the Council Chambers at 11:00 A.M., and will be followed by a reception at City Hall.
At the request of the Bend Heroes Foundation, chaired by Dick Tobiason, the Oregon Legislature and Governor Kate Brown designated all 451 miles of Highway 20, in Oregon, as the Oregon Medal of Honor Highway. The highway honors Oregon’s 26 Medal of Honor recipients who served during eight major wars in ten countries over a span of 108 years from the Civil War to the Vietnam War.
A new highway sign will be unveiled by Mayor Sandra Roumagoux, Robert Maxwell, City Council members, Dick Tobiason, and other dignitaries. The sign will be installed on Highway 20 near Moore Drive after the dedication ceremony.
This will be the first border-to-border highway in the nation honoring all of a state’s Medal of Honor recipients. The Oregon Medal of Honor Highway begins in Newport that is also the western terminus of the 3,365-mile long Highway 20 crossing 12 states ending in Boston, Massachusetts.
A proclamation designating Newport as the
