Maj Jon Hamilton ’98 has been selected as the 2008 Recipient of the LtCol William G Leftwich Jr Trophy for Outstanding Leadership. (I know the message says Captain Hamilton, but he has since been promoted.) The Leftwich Trophy is awarded annually to a ground combat arms captain serving as a company or battery commander in the operating forces. It is given in honor of LtCol William G. Leftwich, Jr., a Navy Cross and Silver Star recipient who was killed in a helicopter crash while personally supervising the extraction of a reconnaissance team in Vietnam. Previous recipients of the Leftwich Award include LtGen Dennis Hejlik, Commanding General of II Marine Expeditionary Force and the 1st Commanding General of Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command; LtGen John Allen, Deputy Commander of US Central Command; and Col Julian Alford, who led 3rd Battalion 6th Marines in Operation Steel Curtain. It is one of the highest honors you can receive as a Marine company commander.
Semper Fidelis and Rah Virginia Mil!
Maj Jonathan Smith accepting the Leftwich Trophy from MajGen Waldhauser and Ross Perot in Dec 2008
Operation Steel Curtain was a very rough fight during late fall of ’05. However, the insurgents had openly controlled many of the towns of western AL Anbar province. 2/1 and 3/6, plus other combat units and teams, did their job and kicked some insurgent ass.