West Point Society of the District of Columbia

The West Point Society of the District of Columbia and the National Capital Region presents the Distinguished Member Award to West Point graduates who have made significant contributions to West Point, the West Point Society of the District of Columbia or to their community. The primary objective of this award is to recognize graduates whose outstanding qualities of character, distinguished service and stature draw wholesome comparison with the qualities that West Point strives for in keeping with its motto "Duty, Honor, Country" while making significant contributions to West Point, or to their class or our Society, or to their community.

The West Point Society of the District of Columbia
1999 Distinguished Member Award
is presented to
Colonel Samuel Waynne Smithers, Jr. USA (Ret)
Class of 1950

A 1999 West Point Society of the District of Columbia Distinguished Member Award is presented to Colonel Samuel W. Smithers, Jr., US Army (Ret) for his exemplary service to West Point, the West Point Society of the District of Columbia and to his Class. Colonel Smithers has exemplified the motto "Duty, Honor, Country" through distinguished and selfless service during the period 1977 to the present time while engaging in multiple commendable activities concerning his class, the Society of the 3^rd Division and the community after retirement.

Colonel Smithers’ major activities have been on focusing attention on the Korean War and its veterans, on the Society of the 3rd Infantry Division, and on Class of 1950 Korean War-related events. He is a major organizer for 3^rd Infantry Division activities, with particular attention paid to its Korean War history. He was Secretary and now is President of Outpost Seven, and provides mailings to all members announcing events. He organizes Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day activities for all division attendees, including scheduling VIP attendance, and participates in wreath-laying ceremonies at Arlington Cemetery for these events.

He is an active supporter of the Korean War Veterans Association. He is a key member of the Korea 2000 Committee in planning national events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of that war. In this capacity, he works closely with the Deputy Under Secretary of the Army for International Affairs, on commemoration activities to be scheduled throughout the US.

He organized and ran a Korea Revisit program for the USMA Class of 1950 in which some 150 classmates, wives and widows returned to Korea for a five day program. In this, he maintained constant liaison with the Korean Embassy, the Korean Veterans Association (Seoul), the Korean Military Academy, and US Forces headquarters in Korea. A highlight of the activities in Korea was the dedication of a bronze plaque at the Korean Military Academy which was dedicated to the 41 classmates who were killed or died during the war.

Colonel Smithers is a former member of the West Point Society of DC Board of Governors, having served as Admissions Committee Chairman and Chairman of the Founder’s Day Dinner Committee in the late ‘70's and early ‘80's, serving under three Society Presidents. He continues to be active in Society activities, in addition to his class activities. He is active in his church, and served on the Vestry, his last year as senior warden. He spent six years on the Board of Trustees of Goodwin House, a Northern Virginia Episcopal affiliated retirement home. Since 1993, he has been a Rotarian (Arlington Rotary Club) and for the past two years has been the Director of International Service and is responsible for the club’s student exchange program.

In all of these activities, Colonel Smithers has displayed outstanding qualities of character, distinguished service, and stature to draw a wholesome comparison with the qualities that West Point strives for in its motto "Duty, Honor, Country" while making significant contributions to our Society, his class, and the community. It is, therefore, fitting that the West Point Society of D.C. award Colonel Samuel W. Smithers, USA (Ret), USMA Class of 1950, the Distinguished Member Award.