Garry A. Scharberg

Col. (Ret.) Garry A. Scharberg U.S. Veteran September 25, 1937 – December 2, 2024 Colonel Garry A. Scharberg (United States Army, Retired), 87, passed away peacefully on Monday, December 2, 2024, in Fauquier County, Virginia. His life was guided by his love of family and country. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Kathleen, his children, and grandchildren. A man of deep faith, he dedicated his private life to service through church ministries and local community charities. Garry was born to Floyd and Velma (Gifford) Scharberg on September 25, 1937, in Rochester, Minnesota. He and his sisters and brother grew up on family farms in the Rochester area through the war years. The family fell in love with the Black Hills of South Dakota and relocated to Hill City in 1948. While attending school, Garry wrangled horses, herded cattle, and became a cowboy. He went to Minnesota to complete and graduate from the School of Agriculture at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul, moved to Colorado to work in a uranium mine and a copper mine, and returned to South Dakota to be a member of a survey crew with the State Highway Department. He was a graduate of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering in 1960. Garry received his commission into the Ordnance Corps of the United States Army in 1961 as a Distinguished Military Graduate, ROTC. Military training included the Ordnance Basic and Career Courses, the Command and General Staff College, the Logistics Executive Development Course, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He received a Master of Science in Logistics Management from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 1969. In 1982 he was designated Master Logistician. Army assignments included Assistant Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Materiel Command (Alexandria, Virginia); 27th Commander of Red River Army Depot (Texarkana, Texas); Director of the National Inventory Control Point and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (Warren, Michigan); Commander of the 544th Maintenance Battalion, 194th Armored Brigade (Fort Knox, Kentucky); Commander of the 85th Ordnance Company (Republic of Vietnam); Plans and Programs Officer and Executive Officer to the Commander, Defense General Supply Center (Richmond, Virginia); Advisor to the Saudi Arabian Ordnance Corps (Saudi Arabia); and postings to the Seventh Army Support Command, Federal Republic of Germany; U.S. Army Strategic Communications Command, Fort Huachuca, Arizona; U.S. Army Ordnance Center and School, Aberdeen, Maryland; and Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Department of the Army, Washington, DC. Garry’s chief awards and decorations received during his distinguished 30-year military career include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal with 1 oak leaf cluster, Army Commendation Medal with 1 oak leaf cluster, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Vietnam Campaign Medal, and Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation. On his military retirement, he was a program director for the Raytheon Company supporting the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command and Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan. Finally, in 1999, Garry and Kathleen began their mutual retirement filled with a shared love of travel and visiting family. A private visitation will be held at Pierce Funeral Home in Manassas, Virginia, on December 15. A funeral service will be held at the Old Post Chapel on Fort Meyer with a graveside service following in Arlington National Cemetery. *** Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi (Prayer for Peace) Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Still A Soldier by Timothy Emmons I lay here today a soldier I know some don’t understand I will try to explain So maybe you can I served my country For many a year I retired long ago The soldier still here I put on my uniform I wore it to foreign lands The soldier I was Is still in the man I have been a husband, father, and friend To some of you here But I’ve been a soldier all along Even after so many a year My final salute I render today I’m still a soldier I’m just on my way.

Garry A. Scharberg

September 25, 1937 - December 2, 2024