From staff reports

The three civilian members of the Mississippi River Commission have each received a Bronze Order of the de Fleury Medal.

Sam E. Angel, R.D. James and Clifford Smith were honored by Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, commander of the Mississippi Valley Division and president of the MRC, during the Mississippi Valley Flood Control Association’s 74th annual meeting in New Orleans. They were nominated by Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ chief of engineers.

The MRC, established by Congress in 1879 to maintain and develop plans to improve the Mississippi River, consists of seven members — three Army officers, an admiral and three civilians — who are nominated by the president and approved by the Senate.

The de Fleury medal is named for French engineer Francois de Fleury, who fought alongside Gen. George Washington during the Revolutionary War. The three award levels are bronze, silver and gold — gold being the highest. Each are for significant contributions to Army engineering.

Angel, of Lake Village, Ark., was first appointed to the MRC in 1979 and re-appointed in 1988 and 1999.

A cotton planter and ginner, he is president of Epstein Land Company and Epstein Gin Company. Angel is commissioner of the Chicot County Watershed District and former commissioner of the Chicot County Rural Development Authority and the Southeast Arkansas Levee District.

He served in the Army National Guard from 1957 to 1965 and with the U.S. Army from 1961 to 1962. He and his wife, Donna, have five children.

James, an engineer from New Madrid, Mo.,, was appointed to the MRC in 1981 and re-appointed in 1991 and 2003. He is a farmer, and manages cotton gins and grain elevators for the A.C. Riley Company.

James received his civil engineering degree from the University of Kentucky in 1971 while working with the Kentucky Department of Water Resources engineering office. He and his wife, Jennye, have two children.

Smith, an engineer from Houma, La., was appointed to the MRC in 1998. He is chairman of T. Baker Smith Inc., a civil engineering, land surveying and environmental services consulting firm.

Smith received his civil engineering degree from Louisiana State University in 1958, and is a registered civil engineer and land surveyor in Louisiana and Mississippi. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, National Society of Professional Engineers and National Society of Military Engineers. He and his wife, Jo-Anne, have seven children.