Knute Frederick Knudsen Thorpe – Lieutenant Colonel,United States Army

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 From a contemporary press report:

Knute Frederick Knudsen Thorpe, 88, a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease November 16, 2003, at his home in Alexandria, Virginia.

Colonel Thorpe was born in Torp, Norway, and followed his father to Brooklyn, New York, in 1933. The family name was Knudsen, but Colonel Thorpe’s father changed it to honor his hometown when he came to the United States. The “e” was added by the Army when Colonel Thorpe enlisted, one of his daughters said.

He worked at the Larsen Baking Co. in Brooklyn, then enlisted in the Army in 1942. He served in Europe, earning a Silver Star in 1945. He also served in Japan and Korea. He was in the military police and retired from the service in 1968.

Colonel Thorpe then went to work for the State Department’s Agency for International Development in the public safety division. He worked primarily in the Dominican Republic and helped set up the police academy in Santa Domingo before returning to Washington when he retired again in 1975.

He received a bachelor’s degree in 1958 from George Washington University, a master’s degree in public administration in 1976 from the University of Oklahoma, a second master’s degree in international relations in 1978 from San Francisco State University, a third master’s degree in economics in 1981 from the University of Oklahoma and a doctoral degree in economics and international relations from Columbia-Pacific University in Novato, California, in 1983.

He was a consultant for the Department of Defense from 1983 to 1984. He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion and the Sons of Norway.

His first wife, Hanne-Lore Thorpe, died in 1960 after nine years of marriage. A daughter from that marriage died shortly after birth.

Survivors include his wife of 42 years, Ortrud Thorpe, of Alexandria; four children, Lorraine Turner of Duluth, Minnesota, Colette Gutierrez of Hickory, North Carolina, Norman Thorpe of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Jacqueline Camerlinck of Alexandria; a sister; and nine grandchildren.

THORPE, KNUTE FK

  • LTC   US ARMY
  • VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 01/15/1942 – 11/30/1968
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 10/08/1915
  • DATE OF DEATH: 11/16/2003
  • DATE OF INTERMENT: 01/07/2004
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 8  SITE 327-B
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

b

  • DATE OF BIRTH: 06/28/1926
  • DATE OF DEATH: 04/01/1960
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 8  SITE 327-A
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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