Hoover chamber gives 2019 Freedom Award to 97-year-old WWII veteran
The Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce today honored Bluff Park resident and World War II veteran Bob Cahoon with the 2019 Freedom Award.
The award is given annually to a role model who promotes the ideals of freedom and supports the government and U.S. military.
Cahoon, 97, served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II from 1942 to 1945. He was in the 55th Troup Carrier Squadron of the 375th Group of the 5th Air Force. He served in New Guinea and the Phillipines during the war and then finished his service as a first lieutenant in Okinawa after the war.
Cahoon re-enlisted in the Air Force Reserves in 1950 and was called to serve during the Korean War at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana before being honorably discharged in December 1952.
Cahoon used the GI Bill to obtain his degree in accounting from Mississippi State College and worked for Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co. for 34 years until he retired in 1982.
He served in the Masonic Lodge for 25 years, was the treasurer for Bluff Park United Methodist Church for more than 25 years and taught Sunday school there for junior high students and adults. He also served as president of the Bluff Park Elementary Parent Teacher Association and helped start the Bluff Park Art Show.
He and his wife, Elizabeth “Pan” Cahoon, have been married for 68 years.
Terry Turner, president of the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce, said Cahoon is a fine example of a person who loves his country and the conservative values upon which the country was founded.
“He is a good Christian and family man and proudly served his country,” Turner wrote on a nomination form supporting Cahoon for the Freedom Award. “I know a number of people, good people, in Hoover, but Mr. Cahoon was the first person to come to mind when I was asked to submit an application if I knew someone deserving of this award.”
Mark Davis of the Hoover Veterans Committee presented Cahoon with the Freedom Award. Davis noted that of the 16 million men and women who served in World War II, less than 497,000 were still alive at the end of 2018, and an average of 372 of them die each day.
Chamber members gave Cahoon a standing ovation at the luncheon at the Hoover Country Club.