Tonight on Discovery Channel’s “Auction Kings” the story of Oliver North’s once lost and 32-years-later found Marine sword. Glenn Garvin of The Miami Herald talked with the Fox News host about the saga of the sword.
[T]he story of his sword goes back to 1980, when he was an utterly unfamous Marine major, moving from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to his new assignment at the Naval War College in Rhode Island. “A wardrobe box disappeared off the truck, including several uniforms and my sword,” says North.North’s name was engraved on the sword’s blade, and he occasionally chased rumored sightings of the weapon, which increased in frequency after his name became a household word during the political infighting over the Iran-contra scandal and a subsequent criminal trial in which he was eventually cleared of all charges.
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The show will document how North got the sword back, and what he’s doing with it now.
He planned to put it over his fireplace. But his replacement sword, a gift from his wife when he completed studies at the Naval War College, already hangs there.
“Betsy said, ‘Let me get this straight — you’re going to take down the sword that I gave you?’ ” North sighs. “So I called [auction house owner] Paul Brown back and told him I’m putting it my office. Otherwise, his next show will be called Sword Fights, with Oliver and Betsy North.”