William John Bland was born April 20, 1887, at Weston, West Virginia. His parents were Meigs Bland and Louise Houston Allen Bland. He was educated at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, and was a recipient of a 1910 Rhodes Scholarship. While at Oxford, he became the first American to be elected president of the Oxford Union debating society. After returning to the U.S. and passing the bar, he took a position as an assistant solicitor for the City of Kansas City, Missouri. In September 1917, he married Mary Johnson, a Kansas City native. With the entry of the United States into the war, Bland volunteered and became captain of Company A, 356th Infantry, a unit of the 89th Division. After the division arrived in France, Bland was promoted to Major, commanding the First Battalion of the 356th. On the morning of September 12, 1918, during the opening hours of the St. Mihiel Offensive, he was killed instantly by artillery fire near Euvezin, France. His body was repatriated after the war and buried in Arlington National Cemetery. An American Legion Post in Kansas City was named for Bland and a memorial to him was erected there. His wife, Mary, never remarried and upon her death in 1977, was buried with him in Arlington.
Source: Great War Forum Website
This is his entry from the 'Register of Rhodes Scholars 1903-1945' see http://www.archive.org/stream/registerofrh...418mbp_djvu.txt BLAND, WILLIAM JOHN (Ohio). b. 20 Apr. 1887. Weston H.S., Washington, D.C., & Kenyon Coll., Ohio. A.M. & Ph.B. PBK Lincoln 191O-13. B.C L. 3rd Cl. 1913. Pres. (Trin. Term 1913) Oxford Union Society. 1913-17. Practice of Law, Kansas City, Mo.; Fac. Member. Kan. City Law Sch.; Asst, City Counselor. 1917-18: Maj., U.S. Inf.; France. m. 1917. Mary Agnes Johnson. Killed in action 12 Sept. 1918.