SC Guard unveils retired Maj. Gen. Spears portrait

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Army and Air National Guard is honoring former its adjutant general, retired Maj. Gen. Stanhope Spears, with an oil portrait.

Maj. Gen. Robert Livingston, Jr., the current adjutant general, was slated to unveil the portrait at a ceremony Sunday. The event was taking place at the Bluff Road National Guard Armory in Columbia.

The portrait, painted by Columbia artist Michael Del Priore, was to be displayed alongside the official portraits of the 25 adjutants general who preceded Spears.

Spears served as the state’s top military officer from 1995 to 2011, and head of the 11,000-member Guard.

When he retired last year, Spears was the nation’s longest-serving adjutant general.