Francis "Frank" Leo Sarsfield was born in The Dalles, OR, but raised in Centerville, WA, just across the state line. He developed his first interest in military life through history courses at Goldendale High School, where he lettered in three sports and was class valedictorian.

He was proud of his Irish heritage, which he traced back to one Patrick Sarsfield, who fought at the battle of the Boyne (1690). Perhaps that's the reason he attended Notre Dame for one year before entering USMA in 1945, thus compromising forever after his loyalty at Army-Notre Dame football games
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Frank survived the West Point experience with no particular difficulty, with the possible exception of the Language Department. There, his battle with the Russian language ended in a virtual standoff, with Frank emerging bloody but unbowed. That scuffle aside, his eternal optimism and Irish good humor not only endeared him to his classmates but also went a long way towards smoothing those inevitable encounters with the "system."

After graduation, Frank headed to the Artillery School at Ft. Sill, OK, thence to the 1st Cavalry Division in Korea. This was in 1950, as war broke out, and the fighting quickly got down and dirty. He recalled several vignettes of those perilous times: laying his first battery north of Seoul; coming across classmate Sam Coursen's body an hour after his death; watching the Bob Hope show in Pyongyang, North Korea; breaking through a Chinese encirclement less than a month later. Other incidents he preferred to forget: the Purple Heart he rarely mentioned, especially to his family.

But all bad things come to an end, and by 1952 Frank was back in San Francisco as aide-de-camp to the deputy commanding general, Sixth Army. While at The Presidio, he met his future wife, Mary Knight, a second lieutenant in the Women's Army Corps. A romance quickly blossomed, and on D Day's ninth anniversary, 6 Jun 1953, they were married. It was a marriage that lasted a lifetime-a happy one, and a productive one. As Mary wrote later in life, "Thank you, Frank, for giving me a fulfilling and interesting life. You really did keep me barefoot and pregnant! But I found shoes and used them quite often to travel the world with you...."

In the beginning, though, that wasn't necessary. Frank was assigned as an ROTC instructor at the University of Santa Clara and thus remained in the Bay Area for a couple of years. After that, the inevitable moves began: first to Ft. Sill, OK, for advanced training; then to Germany, where he served in a howitzer battalion; and later as commander of an Honest John battery. At this point, Frank was rapidly becoming knowledgeable in the theory and operation of tactical nuclear weapons, a skill that the Army fully exploited in later assignments.

His career path took him back to Ft. Sill, once again to Korea, and then to Ft. Campbell, KY He served in a variety of command and staff positions, most of which required his nuclear weapons expertise. At Ft. Campbell, he also played a key role in training the 101 st Airborne Division for duty in Viet Nam.

For his last military assignment, Frank got a good one: post command at Zweibrucken, Germany, a logistics center for the U.S. Army, Europe. Even his children were impressed. As one of them noted later, "one day it snowed so hard, my dad had the power to cancel school." But after a couple of years, Frank decided it was time to stop dragging his family around the world and settle down. So he picked a location he knew well from his early assignments: San Jose, CA. And there he remained until his death, surrounded by an ever-widening circle of family and friends. His tenth and last child, Linda, was born in 1970; his grandchildren are up to eleven as of this writing and still counting.

After retirement, Frank puttered around awhile, looking for the right niche, but soon found one as an analyst and administrator in the Santa Clara County Health De- partment. He remained there until 1983, when he retired again. During that period, and indeed, throughout his life, he became involved in many community groups and activities, such as the Knights of Columbus, South Bay Civil War Round Table, Irish Club, Association of the U.S. Army, West Point Society, St. Basil's Couples Club, and the Last Man's Club of Santa Clara. He was the commander of VFW Post 344, state officer for AMVET Post 5, and president of the Camden High School Booster Club. As his son Tom said, "My dad was a real people person. He knew everybody, and everybody knew him ... He took great pleasure in the simple company of others." Echoes, indeed, of what his classmates might have said during his cadet days.

And so Frank's days ended in the company of family and friends, as he wanted. His prostate cancer, successfully treated in the mid-80s, had returned and spread rapidly. He was buried on 7 December, Pearl Harbor Day, a date he no doubt would have picked himself, given his love of military history.

Yes, you were an officer and a gentleman, Frank, and so much more, as your family and friends can attest. Your motto, as penned in one of your last letters, is one we can all take to heart, "It's a great life if you don't weaken." You had a great life, Frank, and brought happiness to many people. But now it's time to lie down and rest, among your comrades of the Long Gray Line.

His family and classmates