Veterans Center
The Robert D. Maxwell Veterans Center provides a welcoming environment for you to study, relax and meet other military-connected students. Located on the Bend campus in the Coats Campus Center (room 219), it is open:
Monday through Friday
7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Veterans Center Named for Robert D. Maxwell
Central Oregon Community College is now an officially designated “Medal of Honor College”
following a resolution by its board of directors to honor Robert Maxwell, a Medal
of Honor recipient and a formative faculty member in the college’s automotive technology
program. An accompanying resolution officially named COCC’s Veterans services center
the Robert D. Maxwell Veterans Center.
Maxwell, who served in Europe and Africa during World War II as a U.S. Army communications
technician, received the nation’s highest military honor for throwing himself on a
German grenade in a battle near Besancon, France, on Sept. 7, 1944, to absorb the
explosion and save the lives of others in his squad. He is also the recipient of the
Silver Star, two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and two French honors, the Croix de
Guerre and the Legion d’honneur.
Following the war, Maxwell settled in Oregon and used the GI Bill to study automotive
technology. He became an automotive instructor, first teaching at Bend High School
in downtown Bend before helping COCC launch its automotive program in 1958, where
he served as an instructor for eight years. He spent the remainder of his career with
Lane Community College and later retired to Bend.