Location: East side of Gillham Road at 42^nd Street

Designer: Unknown

Dedicated: November 7, 1936

Description:

Base – Height: 1 foot, Width: 3 feet, Length: 3 feet

Pedestal – Height: 4 feet, Width: 2 feet, Length: 2 feet

Red granite with 18 inch by 24 inch bronze plaque.

Major William J. Bland was a Rhodes scholar and member of a prominent Kansas City family.  This monument stands on the grounds where Major Bland drilled many times before leaving for the battle fields of France.

The bronze tablet attached to the monument reads as follows:

To the memory of Major William J. Bland, 1^st Battalion, 356^th Infantry, 89^th Division.  Killed in action September 12, 1918 during the St. Mihiel offensive in France.  “A nobler man, a braver warrior, lives not this day within the City walls.”

Dedicated by William J. Bland Post American Legion.