Celebrated writer-editor inducted into elite Military Hall of Fame

Marine Infantry leader and military technical consultant named to S.C. Military Veterans Hall of Fame

By Cheyenne Twilley

W. Thomas Smith Jr., a writer, editor, and public-information professional assisting the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) Office of Education, Outreach, and Information has been inducted into the S.C. Military Veterans Hall of Fame (Class of 2025).

A retired S.C. Military Department colonel and former U.S. Marine Infantry leader and counterterrorism instructor, Smith is one of several members of the class of 2025 which also includes Col. Kevin Shwedo, U.S. Army (Ret.), Lt. Col. Caroline Fermin, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), and other celebrated military veterans from the Palmetto State including Medal of Honor recipients Maj. Gen. James E. Livingston, USMC (Ret.), Corporal Kyle Carpenter, USMC (Ret.), and retired U.S. Army DELTA Force Sergeant Major Thomas Patrick Payne.

A New York Times, Washington Post, and USA TODAY bestselling editor (an editor and military technical consultant for Rita Cosby’s book Quiet Hero, which chronicle’s Cosby’s father’s service in the Polish Resistance during World War II), Smith has been writing for SCDNR since Feb. 2025.

“Col. Smith is a top-tier writer assisting our communications team here at SCDNR,” said Dr. Tom Mullikin, director of SCDNR. “And our writers and editorial team are easily among the best news writers and magazine feature-writers in the state, perhaps the nation.”

Col. Steve Vitali, USMC (Ret.) who commanded U.S. and foreign forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, also praised Smith’s editorial skills. “Tom’s a superb writer,” Vitali said, adding: “But his Marine Corps infantry service stands alone as does his stellar work as a combat correspondent over the years in four different conflicts. It is no wonder he was inducted into this Hall of Fame.”

Following two years aboard ship as a member of a Marine nuclear security force detachment and ultimately the senior counterterrorism instructor, Smith was reassigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marines (5th Marines being the Corps’ most-decorated regiment), where he then deployed to the Western Pacific, specifically Okinawa and Korea, as a U.S. Marine rifle-squad (Infantry) leader. Though Infantry, while in Korea, Smith was temporarily detached to USMC Intelligence forces.

Smith is a graduate of Marine Corps Recruit Training at Parris Island, S.C., USMC Infantry Training School (Camp Pendleton, CA), USMC Sea School (San Diego, CA), U.S. Army Airborne School (Fort Benning, Georgia), USMC Amphibious Raid School (Coronado, CA), USMC Mountain Warfare School (Bridgeport, CA), FBI and U.S. Secret Service close-quarters combat training (Naval Amphibious Base – Little Creek, VA), and Republic of Korea (ROK Marine Corps) Mountain Warfare School located at the Marine Corps Expeditionary Camp, Muchuk, South Korea.

Following his USMC service, Smith served on a SWAT team at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station where he was the honor graduate (1st in his class) of both his basic security force training and his Armed Response (SWAT) training classes.

Smith was later embedded with Croatian Army forces during the Bosnian War, and with Israeli paratroopers in Hebron and throughout Judea and the West Bank during clashes between the IDF and the PLO and the PLO’s affiliates. Later during the height of the Iraq War, Smith was embedded with British contract security forces (operating from central Iraq south to Basra), a U.S. Marine Regimental Combat Team (in Al Anbar Province operating from Fallujah to Al Qaim on the Syrian border), and with a U.S. Army cavalry squadron (operating in around Baghdad).

Commissioned into the S.C. Military Department’s Joint Services Detachment, Smith conceived, established, and directed the state’s first-ever Counterterrorism Task Force (later the Counterterrorism Advisory Team).

The recipient of numerous awards, honors, and military decorations, Smith received the Order of the Palmetto, S.C.’s highest award, from Gov. Henry McMaster in 2019.

Smith holds an honorary Green Beret from the S.C. Chapter of the U.S. Army Special Forces Association. He is an honorary Ranger in the Republic of Korea Marine Corps. And he is a recipient of the Lebanese Armed Forces crest, presented by the commander-in-chief of Lebanon’s Armed Forces.

Smith also holds an honorary black belt from the S.C. Black Belt (martial arts) Hall of Fame.

“Tom is a Lion among Men,” said Bruce Brutschy, a 10th-degree black belt and S.C. Black Belt Hall of Famer. “He stands on a wall that makes us all safer. Much respect.”

In 2018, Smith was the recipient of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD) Civilian of the Year Award. He has served and continues to serve as an RCSD special deputy and a writer – often for POLICE1 and other major national publications – since 2016. And during specific missions since the summer of 2024, he has served as a tactical observer for both RCSD’s Special Response Team and the multi-agency Midlands Gang unit.

Smith has written several articles about SCDNR law enforcement and other SCDNR functions for the AP, The National Law Review, and other state, regional, and national publications.

 

– Cheyenne Twilley is SCDNR’s chief of Education, Outreach, and Information. For more information about the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, visit https://www.dnr.sc.gov/.