Albert Arthur Sharke was born on March 13, 1921, in New York City. He entered into Columbia University as a first generation college student. Like many others of his generation, his post-secondary education was put on hold during the time he served his country in World War II.

The 457th Squadron Unit History indicates that 2nd Lt. Albert A. Sharke was assigned to the squadron on December 18, 1944, as Armament Officer, replacing 2nd Lt. McCallick who was transferred out of the squadron. 2nd Lieutenant Sharke, and the rest of the ground echelon of the 457th Fighter Squadron, took a troop train from Lakeland Army Air Field to Seattle, Washington. They arrived on Iwo Jima onboard the H.M.S Bloemfontein, a converted Swedish hospital ship. The long overseas journey started in Seattle with stops at Hawaii, Eniwetok Atoll, Tinian, and finally Iwo Jima.

It appears that Lt. Sharke may have been the armorer for the P-51D Mustang flown by 1st Lieutenant Larry Grennan, although that cannot be confirmed. Squadron histories just do not go into that amount of detail, and we do not have any good photos of Lt. Grennan’s P-51D to see if Lt. Sharke’s name appears on the plane. Without either the pilot(s) or ground crew providing that information, that piece of information is lost forever.

Albert Sharke was promoted to 1st Lieutenant while on Iwo Jima. After being honorably discharged after the war, Albert graduated in 1947 from Columbia University with a degree in metallurgical engineering. After working briefly at Air Reduction Laboratories, he spent the duration of his career in chemical and refinery operations at Standard Oil of New Jersey.

On March 13th of this year, the Joseph McDowell Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution organized a birthday parade for Albert to celebrate his 100th birthday. A fantastic event that allowed Albert to ride around Hendersonville in a convertible and be greeted by those wishing him a happy 100th birthday. The article of the event in the BlueRidgeNow Times-News can be found here: https://www.blueridgenow.com/story/news/2021/03/15/wwii-veteran-american-hero-albert-sharke-treated-100th-birthday-parade/4712824001/.

On July 16, 2021, we lost another member of the Greatest Generation. Thanks to Mark Stevens of the 7th Fighter Command Association for bringing to our attention Albert’s passing.