George Hand Sharp – Captain, United States Navy

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Michael:  I’m a retired (2003) Navy Commander who e-mailed you a few years ago while assigned to the Pentagon.  I saw that your listing for Vice Admiral Sharp requested any available new information, so when I saw this obit in the Washington Post earlier this month I thought you may want it.

Interestingly enough, when I was in high school I lived in Bethesda, Maryland, and worked summers at the Naval Hospital (1970-74), one day while working in the emergency room they brought in an old gentleman who was obviously suffering from dementia among other things. As he sat up on the gurney in the treatment room waiting for the doctor, he kept repeating in a commanding type voice “Admiral Alexander Sharp” followed by, in an informal friendly voice, “Sandy Sharp” (as if by way of introduction), he kept repeating this numerous times while i was there. As a young kid I never forgot that because he seemed so distinguished and otherwise “normal” for his age. When I saw his name listed on your site the memory came right back, then when I saw this 2 weeks ago I just had to pass this on.

I’m now working as a contractor for the Chief of Naval Operations so let me know if you ever need a hand with information.  Keep up the great work!

CDR Jim McDonough, Rockville, Maryland, January 2006

George Hand Sharp, 85, a Navy Captain who spent two days stranded in the South China Sea after his destroyer capsized during a typhoon in World War II and who later worked as a plant engineer in Baltimore, died January 3, 2006, at Fauquier Hospital after a heart attack. He lived in Washington, Virginia.

A son of a Vice Admiral, Captain Sharp was born in the District. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and received a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1953.

He served 26 years in the Navy, including assignments as chief engineering officer on destroyers in the Pacific during World War II.

He was decorated for his actions in keeping together a group of survivors from a capsized destroyer.

After the war, Captain Sharp served three tours in the Office of Naval Operations at the Pentagon, mostly in research and development planning. He was instrumental in the fleet introduction of the Navy Tactical Data System.

Captain Sharp, a former Chevy Chase resident, retired from the Navy in 1968. For about the next five years, he commuted to Baltimore to work as a plant manager of a Kennecott Copper Corp. refinery.

He eventually moved to Washington, Virginia, where he owned and operated Mountain Green Farm, a commercial fruit-growing and beef cattle operation, from 1974 to 1992.

He was a member of St. Peter Catholic Church in Washington, Virginia, the Knights of Columbus, the U.S. Naval Institute, the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, the International Dwarf Fruit Tree Association; past president of the Rappahannock Lions Club; and on the board of directors of the Virginia State Horticultural Society.

His wife of 46 years, Sally L. Sharp, died in 1999.

Survivors include four children, Alexander Sharp VII of Rappahanock County, Virginia, William Lightle Sharp of Quicksburg, Virginia, Edward Janin Sharp of Richmond and Mary Power Sharp of Culpeper; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

SHARP, SALLY L

  • DATE OF BIRTH: 11/16/1920
  • DATE OF DEATH: 04/06/1999
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 66  SITE 3845
    ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
  • WIFE OF SHARP, GEORGE H, CAPT US NAVY

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