William R. Bond

William R. Bond
Born	December 4, 1918 (1918-12-04)
Died	April 1, 1970 (1970-05) (aged 51) Bình Thủy District, South Vietnam
Place of burial	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1940–1970
Rank	Brigadier General
Commands held	199th Light Infantry Brigade
Battles/wars	World War II Korean War Vietnam War †
Awards	Silver Star Legion of Merit Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Flying Cross Air Medal (with eight oak leaf clusters) Prisoner of War Medal Order of the Crown of Thailand (Knight Commander)

William R. Bond (December 4, 1918 – April 1, 1970) was a Brigadier-General in the United States Army killed while on active service in South Vietnam in 1970. He was one of [five] U.S. Brigadier-Generals to be killed in the Vietnam War.

Early life and family

In 1960 Bond married Miss Theodora Sedgwick a distant descendent of Union General John Sedgwick who was killed by a Confederate sharpshooter at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in 1864.

Bildung

Bond graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor's degree in political science and history. He was also a graduate of the Army War College and other senior service schools.

US Army career

Bond enlisted in the Army in 1940 and rose through the ranks to Staff Sergeant. He was selected to go through the Officer Candidate School at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry in September 1942. Bond was then assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division. He moved overseas with the unit and participated in the invasion of Sicily. He then volunteered for duty with "Darby's Rangers”, was assigned to the First Ranger Battalion, and lead his company in the Salerno landings in September 1943. On 22 January 1944 Bond's unit landed at Anzio. On January 29-30, the entire Ranger force made a night attack at Cisterna, Bond was awarded the Silver Star for his actions, but was captured by the Germans.

Captain Bond was held in a prisoner of war camp in Poland. When Russian forces breached the German lines in early January 1945, Bond escaped to Soviet lines and for several weeks, Captain Bond became part of a Soviet Reconnaissance Detachment, before returning to the western Allied lines.

On his return Bond volunteered for duty in the Pacific and was training at Fort Benning, Georgia, when the Japanese surrendered. He was assigned to occupation duty in Korea where he began to study Asian social and cultural patterns.

In mid-1949, Bond was selected as a member of the United Nation's truce team and sent to Palestine. Bond was cited for gallantry when he intervened to prevent a serious clash between Arabs and Jews just north of Jerusalem.

Bond returned to Fort Benning in 1950 to attend the Advanced Infantry Course. He also helped establish Airborne Ranger Training and remained with this program for almost a year.

Bond began his first tour in Vietnam in 1959 as a part of the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group. Although only a middle-ranking staff officer he was appointed to the post of Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations.

In 1960, Colonel Bond was assigned to the Office of the Chief of Staff, U.S. Army. One of his responsibilities in this assignment was the development of an Army capability for counter-insurgency. He was Chief of Plans and Policy and Deputy Director of Special Warfare from 1962 until the summer of 1964. Bond was awarded the Legion of Merit for his leadership in preparing the Army for counterinsurgency operations.

Colonel Bond then left the Pentagon and, in the summer of 1964, took command of the 2d Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. In January 1965, while on a field exercise, Bond suffered a slight heart tremor and was rushed to Walter Reed Hospital for observation and treatment, weeks later, a medical board found Colonel Bond unfit for active duty. Through a complex series of appeals, he secured a probationary assignment to Thailand in 1965 where he took over the J-3 of the Military Assistance Command. In 1966, he was elevated to the post of Chief of Staff.

Posted back to Washington in September 1967, the Army Chief of Staff selected Bond to organize and conduct the IX Conference of American Armies. In 1969 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.

In August 1969, Bond was promoted to Brigadier General and on 28 November he was assigned to Vietnam to assume command of the 199th Light Infantry Brigade. While commander, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with 8 oak leaf clusters.

Bond returned to Bangkok on 1 March 1970, and was received by the Prime Minister of Thailand who awarded General Bond the Order of the Crown of Thailand, Knight Commander Grade, Medal.

Death

On 1 April 1970, Brigadier-General Bond was killed by a sniper's bullet shortly after landing in his command helicopter to oversee an operation 70 miles (110 km) northeast of Saigon.