Rogers Townsend & Thomas receives special award from Medal of Honor Recipient

April 2, 2009

COLUMBIA, SC – April 2, 2009 – The Columbia law firm of Rogers Townsend & Thomas, PC (RTT) has been presented the first-ever MAJ. GEN. JAMES E. LIVINGSTON AWARD for the firm’s sizeable financial and volunteer-manpower contributions to the 2010 National Medal of Honor Convention.

Lt. Gen. Garry L. Parks (U.S. Marine Corps, ret.), pres. and chief executive officer of the South Carolina Credit Union League, presented the award during ceremonies at the firm’s Synergy Business Park offices in Columbia, Thursday.

Accepting the award on behalf of RTT was Capt. Michael Graham (U.S. Army Reserve), an Iraq War veteran, attorney, and member of RTT’s board of directors.

Those attending the ceremony included S.C. Military Dept. officers – Maj. Gen. F. Eli Wishart, Maj. Gen. Nelson Lacy, Maj. Gen. O. Eugene Powell, Brig. Gen. John Grimball, Brig. Gen. Eugene F. Rogers, and Lt. Col. W. Thomas Smith Jr. – members of the Columbia Marine Foundation, RTT partners, attorneys, members of the board, and special guests, including Marine veteran Robert W. Hughes who fought and was wounded-in-action during the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima.

The award presented was a framed print of a painting by Col. Charles Waterhouse depicting then-Capt. Jim Livingston’s heroic actions during the 1968 Battle of Dai Do, South Vietnam, for which Livingston would receive the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award for battlefield heroism. The print was personally signed by Livingston.

The Medal of Honor Society’s National Convention will be held in Charleston, Sept. 29—Oct. 3, 2010. Livingston, who resides in Mt. Pleasant, is one of 98 living recipients of the Medal of Honor.