SHAWNEE, OK, USA - Did you know?
You can't visit Shawnee without noticing Shawnee Mills directly south of downtown. Established, pre-statehood, now in its fourth generation of Ford family management,
Shawnee Mills is one of the leading independent mills in the US.
Did you know Captain Robert “Bob” Lloyd Ford flew over 1000 combat missions as a UH-1 Huey helicopter pilot from July 1967-July 1968 in the Vietnam War?
For his service he received the Bronze Star Medal and Air Medal with 12 Oak Leaf Clusters, one with “V” device for Valor. Captain Ford was inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame in 2018 and was awarded the Maj. Gen. Dollar Distinguished Public Service Award for his dedication to community and fellow veterans in the decades since returning from Vietnam.
He and his brother Bill were instrumental in the creation of the
Shawnee Veteran's Memorial
(located near the courthouse, downtown). The memorial has a mounted Huey helicopter, ten black granite panels etched with every Oklahoma who has died in combat since the Spanish American War, and serves as a place of gathering and reflection.
Ford lives in the northwest Oklahoma community of Okeene where he is the manager of the Mill and serves as co-chairman of the Board of Shawnee Mills.
"I lived for a reason. Giving back must be part of the reason God let me live through all of this." - Bob Ford
