6 Navy divers to get POW Medal
Steelworker Second Class (DV) Robert D. Stethem will posthumously receive the award. He was beaten by the hijackers and shot point blank in the temple, then his body was thrown onto the tarmac at Beirut International Airport. Stethem has been posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star, and an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer is named for him.
Stethem was part of a team of six divers from the Little Creek, Virginia-based Underwater Construction Team 1, who were flying home June 14, 1985, after finishing a project in Nea Makri, Greece.
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The five sailors who were held captive with Stethem: Engineering Aid 1st Class (DV) Stuart Dahl; Construction Electrician 1st Class (DV) Tony Watson; Equipment Operator 1st Class (DV) Jeffrey Ingalls; Steelworker 2nd Class (DV) Kenneth Bowen; and Construction Electrician 2nd Class (DV) Clinton Suggs.
According to Wiki, the medal wasn’t created until November 8, 1985, but it is awarded for actions back to April 5, 1917. The six divers were held for 17 days on Trans-World Airlines Flight 847, the LA Times provides a timeline of events during the hijacking. Three terrorists from the hijacking remain on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List. The FBI has long blamed Iran-back Hezbollah for the hijacking, Hezbollah has denied that accusation, though.
Category: Terror War
Entirely appropriate.
Rest in peace, shipmate.
I think their may be a pattern forming with certain people that don’t like us.
I am glad these men are finally being honored. I wonder if this issue came up in the Iran Nuclear talks. You know, “you guys give up those 1985 hijackers and we’ll sweeten the deal.” I bet not. I also bet they are roaming the streets of Tehran and lauded as heroes.
Definitely a well-deserved honor for these brave Seabees.
Unfortunately, Sparks, I’m guessing your assessment of the negotiations is completely correct.
I was waiting for someone to call them Saliors.
These are SEABEE’s.
The Navy disowns us 99% of the time.
Sailors first, SEABEE’s always.
I mashed the red button by mistake. The Bees were always holding themselves out to be “not in the same Navy as you fleet pukes”. At least that is the attitude I got from the ones I knew.
I was active duty when Petty Officer Stethem was murdered by these Hezbollah pieces of shit. I will never forget.
I have a lot more to say, but I would probably say too much, so I will just shut up now.
There is no way this would be brought up during the negotiations with Iran.
Don’t you remember that anything bad that happens in the world is our fault? That is why our CIC has had to travel all over the world apologizing for us.
I thought you kept up with current affairs better!
6 were honored…. and 1,276,389 will claim to be one of those 6.
That’s why I published their names – for future reference.
I certainly hope not…but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it. Whats the over/ under on how long it will take before a phony shows up claiming to be one of them?
I remember this, when it broke on the news. There was a video of Stethern being dropped out of the plane onto the tarmac. He wasn’t thrown. He was dropped through the passenger loading door.
I never understood then, nor do I now, what the point was to all of that.
I remember this like it was yesterday.
PO Stethem was singled out, he did not back down and he was summarily executed.
Shortly after the incident, there were instructions to keep your orders in your checked bags, hide you identification cards etc …
Considering how PO Stethem was executed (because HE was a member of the Armed Forces) and the fact that HE did resist his captors, the notion of denying Armed Forces status did not go over well.
Some critized PO Stethem for possibly provoking his captors, I say he resisted he would have been about my age today, if he had been taken as a Prisoner of War!
RIP PO Stethem. BZ for absorbing the terrorists so others could live and go home.
Sounds like CUCM (hon) Stethem (SW2) read his Code of Conduct, and took it to heart.
I will never surrender of my own will
If captured I will continue to resist
I will never forget I am an American
His adherence to the Code should be held up before all, and all challenged “Be worthy of THIS man’s faith in YOUR faithfulness”.
The Enemy requires all to submit for them to win. They lose when you defy them. Do not submit, and you spit in the eye of every last one of them. They will kill you for it, but they can not defeat those who will not submit.
Thank you Master Chief Stethem, for reminding me again why I do so love these United States. May we always be worthy of Men such as you.
USS STETHEM (DDG63) motto “Do it for Robbie”.