Robert Dean Stethem, U.S. Navy

Hero Card 89
Artist’s rendering by Craig Du Mez

Hometown: Waldorf, MD
Branch: U.S. Navy
Unit: Underwater Construction Team One, Norfolk, Virginia
Military Honors: Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Prisoner of War Medal
Date of Sacrifice: June 15, 1985 - Beirut, Lebanon 
Age: 23
Conflict: No declared conflict

“Robbie” Stethem was born into a proud Navy family on November 17, 1961, in Waterbury, Connecticut. His father Richard served for 26 years and retired as Senior Chief Petty Officer. After retiring, he continued to work for the Navy as a civilian for another 20 years. Robert’s mother Patricia served in the Navy before leaving active duty to raise the family. Brother Kenneth served for 20 years and retired as a Navy SEAL. Brother Patrick, like Robert, was a “Seabee” diver and served for 10 years in the same Underwater Construction Team One.

When the children were young, the Stethem family moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia, and later to Waldorf, Maryland, where Robert attended Thomas Stone High School and played defensive back for the Cougars football team. He graduated in 1980.

On May 4, 1981, at the age of 19 Robert entered the United States Navy and was assigned to the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 62 in Gulfport, Mississippi for training as a “Seabee” Steelworker. “Seabee” is a nickname given to Construction Battalions based on their initials “CB.”

According to his family, Robert was excited about the opportunities to travel with the Navy. His time with NMCB-62 took him on multiple tours to the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, and to the island of Guam in the Pacific.

Robert Stethem received more training to become a 2nd Class Navy Diver, assigned to Underwater Construction Team One, based out of Norfolk, Virginia. This assignment took him to Nea Makri, just east of Athens, Greece.

In June, 1985, Robert Stethem was returning from Nea Makri with five teammates on a civilian airliner, Trans World Airlines Flight 847. After taking off from Athens, the flight was hijacked by Shi’ite Muslim extremists aligned with Hezbollah, an Iran-funded Lebanese terrorist organization.

The hijackers forced the flight to make multiple landings in Algiers, Algeria and in Beirut, Lebanon. They held 39 people hostage for 17 days, demanding the release of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Demanding to know which of the passengers were Jews, the hijackers gathered passports—looking for Jewish-sounding names.

With the passports, the terrorists identified the six Navy teammates as American military and singled out Stethem for brutal beatings. Threatening to kill all passengers unless their demands were met, one of the terrorists proved their point by shooting Robert Stethem in the head and dumping his body out onto the Beirut airport tarmac. He was 23 years old.

For his courage in not succumbing to the brutality of his captors, Robert Dean Stethem was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star on March 12, 1986. Hi citation reads:

For heroic achievement on 14 June 1985 while assigned to Detachment November Mike ‘85 of Underwater Construction Team One deployed to the Naval Communication Station, Nea Makri, Greece. Petty Officer Stethem displayed exceptional valor and professional integrity while a hostage of militant Shi'ite hijackers of Trans World Airlines Flight 847 at Athens International Airport, Algiers, Algeria and at Beirut, Lebanon. Exhibiting physical, moral, and emotional courage beyond extraordinary limits, Petty Officer Stethem endured a senseless and brutal beating at the hands of his fanatical captors. He drew upon an unwavering inner strength and absorbed the punishment. The hijackers were infuriated by his refusal to succumb, a symbol to them of the strength of the United States of America; and in their cowardly desperation, shot him to death. Petty Officer Stethem’s courage, steadfast determination, and loyal devotion to duty reflected great credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

Petty Officer Robert Dean Stethem is buried at Arlington National Cemetery (section 59). Among numerous tributes memorializing Robert Stethem: In 1995, the Navy Destroyer USS Stethem (DDG-63) was named in his honor. A vocational school in Pomfret, MD is named the Robert D. Stethem Educational Center. In 2010, Stetham received an honorary promotion to Constructionman Master Chief Petty Officer from the U.S. Navy.

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