Hometown: Knoxville, TN
Branch: U.S. Army
Unit: 382nd Infantry Regiment, 96th Infantry Division
Military Honors: Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: June 17, 1945 - KIA on Okinawa Island
Age: 19
Conflict: World War II, 1939-1945

Growing up in Knoxville, Tennessee, Floyd Sharp Jr. was one of four children born to H.F. “Jack” and Janie Sharp. Born on Jan 17, 1926, Floyd had two brothers, Robert and Franklin, and a sister, Zelma. Their father, Jack, was a policeman. The family worshiped together at Lonsdale Baptist Church.

Floyd was a good student and star football player for Knoxville’s Rule High School. The local newspaper, The Knoxville Journal, referred to him as “a crack back on the all-star team in 1943 [whose] six foot two inches and 185 pounds were a big asset to his gridiron pals.” Sharp also played basketball for Rule’s Golden Bears for two seasons.

With the United States at war in the European and the Pacific theaters of World War II (1939-1945), Sharp was called to Army service after his high school junior year—having turned 18 in January 1944.

He was sent to Camp Wheeler in Macon, Georgia for Basic Training and Advanced Infantry Training. Sharp was then moved to Fort Ord in southern California for Combat Medical Training.

Assigned to the 382nd Infantry Regiment, PFC Floyd’s 96th Infantry Division trained in Hawaii from July to September of 1944. They saw their first combat in an assault landing in Leyte Gulf in the Philippine Islands, between Tanauan and Dulag, on October 20.

The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval engagement of World War II. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, “The goal of the battle was to block Japan from its Southeast Asian sources of rubber, oil and other raw materials used for military purposes. The other goal was to retake the Philippines, which had been captured by the Japanese in 1942.”

The 96th left the Philippines in March 1945, making an assault landing on the island of Okinawa on April 1, 1945. On May 28, 1945, PFC Sharp was wounded in combat. He refused to be separated from his 382nd Infantry Regiment and returned to the front lines on June 7.

On Okinawa, 130,000 Japanese Army soldiers along with conscripted civilians dug into the rugged terrain near Shuri Castle. They were instructed not to fire until the landing Americans had moved inland, into a deadly triangle of defensive positions.

The Tennessee State Museum recounts:

[On June 17, 1945] PFC Floyd Sharp Jr. observed a wounded soldier exposed to enemy fire during the desperate fighting along the Shuri Line. Without regard for his own personal safety, he immediately ran forward while attempting to save the life of his comrade but was killed by enemy machine gun fire.

The successful but costly Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle of World War II. American Joint Forces and their allies successfully blocked Japanese supply lanes in the East China Sea, isolating all southern islands that were still controlled by Japan.

PFC Floyd Sharp Jr. made the ultimate sacrifice on Okinawa on June 17, 1945, at age 19. The war would end less than three months later, with the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay—on the deck of the USS Missouri (BB-63)—on September 2, 1945.

PFC Floyd Sharp Jr. was buried with full military honors on the island of Okinawa. Two years later, he was reinterred in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal.

Sources
Details submitted by Mr. Monty Sharp, PFC Sharp’s nephew.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel, July 27, 1945: Pfc. Sharp’s Death Is Family’s 3rd in a Month
The Knoxville Journal, July 28, 1945: Floyd Sharp, Former Rule High Football Star, Dies in Action
Tennessee State Museum: New Acquisitions | Summer of 2020—Floyd Sharp World War II Collection
United States Army Center of Military History: 96th Infantry Division
East Tennessee Veterans Memorial Association: Floyd J. Sharp Jr.
Honor States: Floyd Sharp Jr
Burial Site: Find a Grave