I love Ward, he was a fine actor in his own right, but he looked so well alongside the Duke
I agree wholeheartedly! They were buddies, and you could see that (that's why Ward as the bad guy in Tall in the Saddle is such a surprise). It's almost comforting to see Ward Bond alongside Duke.
A couple of years ago (no . . . it was almost THREE years ago!), I looked for other links of interest on the different co-stars that Keith highlighted. More recently, I've been trying to go through and make sure the links are still good, deleting the ones that no longer work, and seeing if anything else of interest is out there. Today, checking to see if there are other Ward Bond links of interest, I found this - Find a Grave Memorial Site (which I added to my original post).
In reading it, I discovered an interesting tidbit which I hadn't heard before, regarding Ward Bond's burial -
QuoteBurial: Cremated, Ashes scattered at sea.
Specifically: Ashes spread in the Pacific Ocean somewhere between Newport Beach and Catalina Island
It seems that even in death, he didn't get too far away from his buddy John Wayne!
Mrs. C 
The first time I noticed him was in "It's a Wonderful Life", then from there I noticed him everywhere.
Unlike you, I first started noticing Ward Bond in John Wayne movies (I think his role in The Searchers was the one I found most memorable originally). After that, it was a most pleasant surprise to discover him in It's a Wonderful Life.
Chester 
Ward Bond is another comfortable, familiar face. I'm sure his unexpected death greatly saddened John Wayne - they had been friends for so long 
!
Check out what's on the 'net about Ward Bond -
http://www.fiftiesweb.com/wt/ward-bond.htm
http://www.thegoldenyears.org/wardbond.html
http://www.nndb.com/people/053/000078816/
http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Movies/Bond-Ward-13383.html
http://www.jwayne.com/costars/bond.shtml
Find a Grave Memorial site - Ward Bond
Mrs. C
I just turned a very good friend of mine on to Tall in the Saddle yesterday.
Ward Bond did an excellent job as the bad guy.
Unfortunately, Elisabeth Risdon hit him in the head with a big flower pot near the end of the movie. 
Chester
Another one of our favorites, of all Duke's co-stars, is Ward Bond. He is like Jack Pennick, in that he is a familiar face, but much easier to identify because he has bigger parts.
My wife especially enjoys him in It's a Wonderful Life, as the policeman. Both in that movie and in They Were Expendable, he showed off a fairly decent singing voice (unlike John Wayne, who couldn't sing worth a lick :o ).
Chester
