US M-1902 High Grade Presentation Officer Sword General WVA . SU94

United States M-1902 High Grade Presentation Army Officer Sword. This is not the standard M-1902 Army Officer Sword. This has gilded fittings and also extra grip enhancements. Also, very nicely decorated scabbard with dedication engraved (a bit hard to make out because of the corrosion right where the engraving is located on scabbard). Appears to be: Presented to the Adjutant General, John C Bond, by the National Guard of West Virginia, as a token of high esteem. 1915. Blade is marker marked: Cincinnati Regalia Co, Cincinnati, O. Also, named to: General John C. Bond on the blade in dedication panel as well. Blade length approximately 34 inches. Overall length in scabbard approximately 40 1/2 inches. Worn condition. Very nice-looking M-1902 High Grade Presentation Army Officer Sword to General.

Additional Notes: Major John Calvin Bond, a native West Virginian, was born on a farm in Pendleton County November 9, 1880. In 1893 he moved to Randolph County, where he worked in a sawmill, and later as a railroad brakeman. He attended the country schools and the Fairmont State Normal School, graduating from the latter in 1902. He taught school at Fairmont for two years. From 1904 to 1907 he worked on Fairmont newspapers, and then moved to Charleston, where he engaged in general newspaper work until 1914. His military record began in 1898, when he served through the Spanish-American War as a private in Company F, First West Virginia Volunteer Infantry. He enlisted in the West Virginia National Guard in 1905 and served in various capacities from private to captain. On July 15, 1914, he was appointed Adjutant General of West Virginia, with rank of Brigadier General, and during his term had charge of reorganizing the Nation Guard and mobilizing it for Mexican border service in 1916, and for the World War in 1917. After the National Guard was drafted into Federal service, he resigned his office and went into the military service of the United States. He served with the Thirty-eighth Division in the United States, and in France with the First and Thirty-fifth Divisions at the front, being on duty in several trench sectors, and participating in the three major offensives of Montdidier-Noyon, St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne. He graduated from the Army General Staff College, American Expeditionary Forces, with a recommendation for general staff duty with troops.

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