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.

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.”

CNN’s Jeff Kepnes has just gotten a promotion, to Executive Producer of Special Events for the network.

New York-based Kepnes, who reports to Kate Lunger, has been heading up the network’s special events coverage recently including the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Anderson Cooper‘s New Year’s Eve special, and Black in America town halls. Kepnes joined CNN in 2003 as senior producer of “Paula Zahn Now.” He’d worked for Fox News and, before that, at MSNBC where he was senior producer of “Equal Time with Paul Begala and Oliver North.”

Kepnes is married to Fox Business Network anchor Liz Claman. The couple has two children.

Tonight Fox News presents a 2004 edition of “War Stories with Oliver North” as a special tribute to journalist Marie Colvin, who died last week covering the Syrian civil war. The one-hour program features an interview with Colvin in which she talks about how she got into war reporting and the violence she’s seen along the way. “War correspondents have to be able to deal with absolutely everything,” she says. The special delves into the history of war reporting in interviews with Pulitzer Prize winners Eddie Adams and Nick Ut, as well as News Corporation Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch who talks about his father’s work as a journalist during WWI. Colvin worked for the News Corp.-owned Sunday Times.

“War Stories with Oliver North: Deadlines on the Battlefield” airs tonight on FNC at 9pmET/PT.

Politico’s Mike Allen reports Oliver North, host of FNC’s “War Stories,” is temporarily off the air while he undergoes treatment for prostate cancer. Allen’s sources tell him, “North’s prognosis is excellent.”

“War Stories with Oliver North” can be found most often on the FNC schedule on Saturday nights.

The retired Marine Corps officer turned to talk radio in 1995 and, along with Paul Begala, hosted the MSNBC debate show “Equal Time” earlier in this decade.

In honor of Veterans Day, TVNewser would like to take a moment to recognize the following TV news anchors, reporters, and technicians who’ve served in the U.S. armed forces. We apologize for those missing, of which there are likely many, but here is a brief list:

• Bob Schieffer, “Face the Nation” host
  
  U.S. Air Force
• Oliver North, Fox News “War Stories” host
  
  U.S. Marine Corps, retired Lieutenant Colonel
• Chris Lawrence, CNN Pentagon correspondent
  
  U.S. Navy Reserve
• Russel L. Honoré, CNN Preparedness Contributor
  U.S. Army, Retired Lieutenant General
• Steve Kroft, “60 Minutes” correspondent
  
  U.S. Army, and worked for Stars and Stripes in Vietnam
• Charlie Gibson, ABC “World News” Anchor
  
  U.S. Coast Guard
• Don Teague, CBS News Correspondent
  U.S. Army, trained at Fort Hood
• Andy Rooney, “60 Minutes” personality
  
  U.S. Army, and wrote for Stars and Stripes in WWII
• Greg Kelly, “Good Day New York” host, former FNC host/correspondent
  U.S. Marine Corps, (and currently a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves)
• Jack H. Jacobs, MSNBC military analyst
  
  U.S. Army, former Colonel Medal of Honor recipient
• Clark Howard, HLN Host
  
  U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War, Captain in the Georgia State Defense Force.
• Ray Bribiesca, “60 Minutes” cameraman
  
  U.S. Marine Corps
• Andrew Soto, “60 Minutes” editor
  
  U.S. Army
• Joe Murania, “60 Minutes” editor
  
  U.S. Navy
• Sam Donaldson, ABC News reporter/anchor
  
  U.S. Army, rising to the rank of Captain, USAR
• David Martin, CBS News correspondent
  
  U.S. Navy, Officer for 3 years aboard a destroyer in Pearl Harbor during Vietnam
• Herb Schwartz, Pat Gillen, and Mike Pelech of CBS News

FNC’s Greta Van Susteren sat down with new Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, and one of his comments has been a focus this week.

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter writes about a rumor continued by Zardari, that FNC contributor Oliver North “installed a security system for his home in the late 1980s because he was ‘scared of Osama bin Laden.’”

North took to Gretawire last night to give a lengthy response to the new president. Among his issues with the rumor, he wrote, “The security system was installed at my home as I prepared for a secret trip to Tehran in 1986, shortly after Abu Nidal (not Osama bin Laden) had publicly announced that I was on a list of individuals to be assassinated.”

Click continued to see the uncut part of the interview in which Zardari mentions North (about 6:00 in)…

Read more