US Marine Corps General. He is probably best remembered as the father of modern US amphibious warfare. He attended Auburn University (then known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute) in Auburn, Alabama and graduated in 1901 with a Bachelor of Science degree. Having decided on a military career and after becoming first sergeant of a cavalry company in the Alabama National Guard, he went ahead and obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Alabama in 1903 and practiced law in Montgomery, Alabama for a year. He then sought a commission in the Army, but instead was appointed a Marine second lieutenant in March 1905. In April 1906, after completing the School of Application at Annapolis, Maryland, he was assigned to the Philippines, where he served on expeditionary duty with the 1st Marine Brigade until September 1908. He returned to the US and was stationed at the Marine Barracks, Annapolis, until December 1909, when he embarked for expeditionary duty in Panama. Returning from Panama four months later, he served at Annapolis, Puget Sound, Washington, San Diego, California, and the Recruiting Station, Seattle, Washington, before returning to the Philippines in September 1912, to rejoin the 1st Marine Brigade. He remained with the 1st Brigade until April 1914, when he took command of the Marine Detachment aboard USS Galveston. He served in that capacity in the Pacific until July 1915, when he returned to the US and served at the Navy Yard, New Orleans, Louisiana. In June 1916 he was assigned to the Dominican Republic as a member of the 4th Marine Regiment. During that unit's operations against rebel bandits, he saw action in the march to Santiago and engagements at La Pena and Kilometer 29. It was during this time that he was given the nickname "Howlin' Mad" by his troops. He returned briefly to the US in May 1917, only to be sent to France and World War I just two weeks later as commander of the 8th Machine Gun Company, 5th Marines. His unit was assigned to the French Chasseurs Alpins to learn from the experienced French troops on the tactics of the War. After this time the 8th was assigned to a camp to offload arriving American vessels where he became second in command of the camp. In November 1917 he was promoted to the temporary rank of Major and was detached from the 5th Marines and sent to the Army General Staff College at Langres, from which he graduated in February 1918, the first of only six Marines ever to complete this course. He was then named Adjutant of the 4th Marine Brigade, which was a part of the US Army's 2nd Infantry Division, serving in a relatively quiet sector southeast of Verdun. During the fighting in and around Belleau Wood, he played a vital role as Brigade liaison officer, overseeing internal communications within the Brigade. In July 1918 he was transferred to the I Corps, First Army, where he served as assistant operations officer in charge of liaison during the Aisne-Marne, Oisne-Aisne Offensive, St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives. After the Armistice was signed in November 1918, he participated in the March to the Rhine through Belgium and Luxembourg as an assistant operations officer with the 3rd Army, and served with the General Staff, US Army, during the occupation of Germany. For his service at Belleau Wood, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre with palm by the French government. He also received a Meritorious Service Citation from the Commander in Chief, American Expeditionary Forces, for which he was later awarded the Purple Heart. In April 1919 he returned to the US and served in various stateside assignments. In May 1923, he served aboard the battleships Wyoming and Arkansas as Fleet Marine Officer, US Scouting Fleet, until September of that year. In April 1931 he began another tour of sea duty, this time aboard the USS California as Aide to the Commander and Force Marine Officer of the Battle Force, US Fleet, serving in those capacities until June 1933, commanded the Marine Barracks at the Washington Navy Yard, Washington DC from then until January 1935, and served the following two years at San Francisco, California, as Chief of Staff, Department of the Pacific. From there he was ordered to Marine Corps Headquarters, Washington DC in March 1937, to serve two years as Director of the Division of Operations and Training, after which he became Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps under Major General Thomas Holcomb from April to September 1939. He then assumed command of the 1st Marine Brigade at Quantico, taking that unit to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for extended amphibious training in October 1940. In February 1941, when the brigade was redesignated to the US 1st Marine Division, he became that organization's first commander. He returned with the division to Quantico in April 1941, and two months later he was detached from it to take command of the organization that eventually became the Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet. In August 1942, after the outbreak of World War II, he was assigned to San Diego, California where he commanded the Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet, under which he completed the amphibious indoctrination of the 2nd and 3rd Marine Divisions before they went overseas, and the 7th Army Division and other units involved in the Aleutians operation. The Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet, was later redesignated the 5th Amphibious Corps, and in September 1943, as commander of that unit, he arrived at Pearl Harbor to begin planning for the Gilbert Islands campaign. In August 1944 he was named Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, at Pearl Harbor and subsequently commanded the Fleet Marine Force. In addition to that post, he commanded Task Force 56 in the Battle of Iwo Jima before returning to the US in July 1945, to head the Marine Training and Replacement Command at Camp Pendleton, California. He retired from the US Marine Corps as a lieutenant general in May 1946 with 41 years of continued military service. He was then promoted to the rank of general on the retired list for having been especially commended in combat in accordance with an Act of Congress passed on February 23, 1942 (colloquially known as a "tombstone promotion"). In addition to the military decorations he received from serving in France during World War I, he received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal with four stars, the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal with three stars, the Dominican Campaign Medal, The Mexican Service Medal, the World War I Victory Medal with five sector clasps, the Army of Occupation of Germany Medal, The American Defense Service Medal with one clasp, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with five service stars, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. He retired to La Jolla, California and died at the age of 84. The Marine Corps Camp H. M. Smith, located on Oahu, Hawaii, is named in his honor.