WWI & WWII US Navy Officers Grouping – Lt Commander Herbert P Bearce – Inscribed US Navy Officers Sword – Rare
Description
Grouping to Herbert P Bearce
It seems Bearce did considerable travelling to South America in the period after the First World War, his passports are filled with entries, as well as his Mothers and his Wife.
Bearce served in WWI in the US Navy, but by 1930 he would join the US Cavalry as a Captain, by the end of WWII he was in the Pacific but this time back in the US Navy. Quite an unusual career, he had a large family with a member with his wife who he met in South America.
I have found his name on various ancestry records, but one mentioned 1941 he is stationed in the US Navy in Washington DC. But another shows that in 1925 he was unboard the USS Utah.
His wife, child of Louise Osbaldeston VESLY, namely an Alexandra DE VESELY. Alexandra seems to have married a Herbert Potter BEARCE, and in 1937 they announced the birth of a son in the New York Times. The child is described in the birth announcement as a “great-grandson of the late Lord Edwin Osbaldeston, surgeon to Queen Victoria“.. (It also describes Alexandra as “the former Miss Alexandra de Vesely of Vienna” – not clear whether this is Vienna, N.Y. or the Austrian Vienna).
Most of the paperwork included are in relation to Alexandra, and their children.
Bearce lost a Son in the Vietnam War (Larned Vesely “Reb” Bearce) a Major in the USMC, he was one of the last casualties of the Vietnam War. The letter informing his parents is in the grouping.
See more here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/143261185/larned-vesely-bearce
Bearce finished a book published shortly after the death of his son, titled, Magic of the Mind (See Photos).
His USN Naval Officers Dress Sword, Belt and Hanger are in good collecting condition, the sword is inscribed with his name, and his dress tunic displays a wonderful hand made insignia of the USN. The tunic is named on the collar to Bearce. Minimal damage, a few missing buttons.
An interesting grouping, and surely worth further research.