Frederick Dent Sharp III – Captain, Army Air Corps Foreign Service Officer

From a contemporary press report:

Frederick Dent Sharp, III recently of Boca Raton, Florida died December 14, 2001,  at Hospice by the Sea. He was 83. The son of Colonel Frederick Dent Sharp, Jr. and Ellanor Longstreth, he was born September 3, 1918 at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma and spent his primary years traveling as an “army brat” to various military posts. While at Ft. Myer he attended Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. and completed his secondary schooling at The Hoosac School in Hoosick, New York. He attended Bard College (then part of Columbia) and graduated in 1940. He went to work for First National City Bank and was initially stationed in Buenos Aires, Argentina because of his language fluency.

World War II brought an abrupt end to his first career as he returned to New York and enlisted in the United States Army Air Force. Trained as an air intelligence specialist he figured prominently in the success of the Italian campaign at the Po River and retired as a Captain at the conclusion of the war. Mr. Sharp then embarked on a long career in the Foreign Service that took him all over Latin America, Spain and North Africa. He held a variety of consular positions ranging from economic development to nation building, political-military affairs and intelligence eventually rising to the position of DCM. His proudest achievement in 26 years of service was his position paper on the strategic insignificance of the Panama Canal after the advent of the super aircraft carrier. His work– literally light years ahead — was the basis 40 years later for the treaty that returned the canal to Panama. Mr. Sharp was awarded the Superior Service Medal and retired from the State Department in 1973. He then returned to his initial banking profession, by joining the National Savings and Trust Company in Washington, D.C.

After retiring for a second time in 1983 Mr. Sharp lived  briefly in Irvington and then Reston, Virginia before finally settling in Yarmouth, Maine in 1985. In 1995, Mr. Sharp made contact with an old Foreign Service friend and he and Suska Massey were inseparable from that point on. They enjoyed the warmth and social life of South Florida where both were active members in the Boca Raton International Club. Mr. Sharp leaves his dear companion Suska Massey of Boca Raton, a daughter Lisa Sharp Borger of Jacksonville, Florida, a son Alex Sharp of Portland, Oregon, 7 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild.

A requiem mass will be held at St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Deerfield Beach and final interment will be in Arlington National Cemetery.

SHARP, FREDERICK DENT III
CAPT   US ARMY

• VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 03/03/1943 – 11/19/1945
• DATE OF BIRTH: 09/03/1918
• DATE OF DEATH: 12/14/2001
• DATE OF INTERMENT: 04/15/2002
• BURIED AT: SECTION 30  SITE 343 LH
  ALINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard