NEWBERRY — Only six Distinguished Alumni Awards have been made to graduates of the S.C. Army National Guard’s Officer Candidate School, Palmetto Military Academy, since it was established in 1950. At graduation exercises of Class ‘74 at Fort Jackson on Saturday, August 12, 2023, former Adjutant General MG Robert E. Livingston Jr. was the recipient of the renamed Colonel William H Shackelford Distinguished Alumni Award.
Colonel Shackelford, a resident of Newberry, was a graduate of Class 1 in 1951 and he was recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2015.
The new award is inscribed “In Honor of your continued dedication to Palmetto Military Academy, the PMAA Distinguished Alumni Award is renamed the Colonel William H. Shackelford Distinguished Alumni Award. We proudly recognize you on this 12th day of August in the year of our Lord 2023.”
The award is made by the Palmetto Military Academy Association and all future recipients will receive the now named Colonel Shackelford award.