The last portion of the National Medal of Honor Highway Project stretching across the country from Oregon was ceremoniously proclaimed in Massachusetts on Saturday.

The 3,365-mile route along U.S. Highway 20, stretches from Newport, on the Pacific Coast, to Kenmore Square in Boston.  

The Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest military award. It is not “won,” as other military awards are described, but “received” by those who showed the greatest bravery at risk of their lives in combat for the United States.

Bend Heroes Foundation Chairman Dick Tobiason, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and Vietnam War veteran, has been a driving force in creating the ocean-to-ocean highway designation.

Tobiason and family members were in Boston on Saturday for the final ceremony capping the effort, with Massachusetts officially part of the route. 

“It’s a beautiful day,” Tobiason, said by telephone from Boston. “The weather is great.”

Each of the 12 state Medal of Honor Highways honor that state’s Medal of Honor recipients. The route goes through Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts. The states honor about 60% of all 3,516 recipients to received the Medal of Honor since the Civil War.

The Oregon portion includes honors for Robert Dale Maxwell, the Bend resident who as a 23-year-old Army Technician 5th Grade received the Medal of Honor for saving the lives of fellow American soldiers by jumping on a German hand grenade during an attack by Nazi troops near Besancon, France on Sept. 7, 1944.

Maxwell recovered from his severe wounds, married and when he died at age 98 on May 11, 2019, was survived by children and grandchildren. He was buried with full military honors at the Terrebonne Pioneer Cemetery. 

Tobiason said the Saturday event included several Boston and Massachusetts political, civic and veterans leaders.

Former Massachusetts Department of Veterans Services Director Thomas G. Kelley was a key speaker. He represented the 65 living Medal of Honor recipients. 

Kelley, a Boston native, received the Medal of Honor while a lieutenant in command of River Assault Division 152 — the “brown water Navy” swift boats that saw action on the rivers of Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Their mission was to move U.S. infantry troops to key areas in the Mekong Delta, often putting themselves within a few yards of enemy troops hiding along the banks of waterways.

On June 15, 1969, Kelley led eight boats on a mission along the Ong Muong Canal in Kien Hoa Province, South Vietnam. The boats came under heavy enemy fire from Viet Cong forces on the shore.

When one boat broke down, Kelley ordered his own boat placed between the shore and the stalled craft. A rocket propelled grenade hit Kelley’s boat,  severely injuring him — including the loss of an eye.

Kelley continued to direct the response to the attack and was able to withdraw his boats to safety. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions. 

Also at the Saturday ceremony was Justin LeHew, the Navy Cross recipient who walked the entire length of Highway 20 to bring attention to the sacrifice of veterans. His journey included a stop in Deschutes County in December 2022.

A military honor guard and members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars also took part. 

The Bend Heroes Foundation worked to received legislative recognition of the 451-mile portion of U.S. Highway 20 that runs through Oregon. It worked with other organizations to have 12 Oregon Medal of Honor Highway signs posted between Newport and the Idaho border.