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July 10, 2009

Marine comes home

John M. Willis, Calhoun Times

The small jet carrying the body of Lance Cpl. Seth Sharp back home touched down at Calhoun’s Tom B. David Airport just before 3 p.m. Thursday.

As the jet pulled up to the terminal, it was flanked by members of the Patriot Guard Riders bearing American flags. A Marine Corps honor guard walked silently to the plane and took Sharp’s flag-draped coffin from the jet to a waiting hearse. The silence was broken only by the sound of crying.

Sharp, of Adairsville, was killed last week as the Marines began Operation Strike of the Sword, a push to take the Helmand Valley back from the Taliban. He was serving in Company E of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines. He was born in Dalton.

Sharp joined the Marines at 17 and had previously served in Iraq. He was 20 when he was killed in Afghanistan, where he arrived only six weeks ago, his uncle Shane Rogers said.

Sharp attended Adairsville High School where he played football, but left school early to join the Marines, his uncle said.

“Seth is in a better place now,” said state Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cartersville. “We are all the beneficiaries of his service.”

Loudermilk spoke briefly with members of Sharp’s family as they walked out to the tarmac as the jet began its descent.

Adairsville City Manager Larry Pratt said word of Sharp’s death spread quickly through the small town.

“First it was word of mouth, then people started e-mailing and texting,” Pratt said. “This is the kind of event that binds people together. Everyone in town feels for Seth’s family.”

Pratt and members of the Adairsville Police Department and the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office were at the Calhoun airport to honor Sharp’s arrival and accompany the procession back down U.S. 41 to Adairsville to NorthPoint Church, where the family will receive friends from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday.

His funeral will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at NorthPoint Church, followed by burial at Eastview Cemetery.

Sharp is survived by his mother Angie Sharp and his father and stepmother Rick and Tiffany Sharp, Rogers said. Sharp’s fiancée was Katie McMahon of Dalton.

He is the third local serviceman killed in action while serving in Afghanistan in recent weeks.

1st. Sgt. John Blair, 38, Calhoun, died in Mado Zayi, Afghanistan, on June 20 when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle. He was an Army National Guardsman assigned to the 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment out of Lawrenceville. Graveside services took place Wednesday afternoon in Canton.

In early June, Jeffrey William Jordan, 21, Cave Spring, who served with the Calhoun-based 108th Cavalry, was one of three soldiers from the Georgia National Guard unit killed in Afghanistan.

And as Seth Sharp returned home, members of the 108th Cavalry were processing the news of another death. Spc. Issac L. Johnson Jr., 24, of Columbus, was killed Monday in Konduz, Afghanistan, the Department of Defense announced. Johnson was assigned to Rome-based Alpha Troop of the 108th Cavalry.



Staff Writer Kaitlin Beard contributed to this report.

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