ROBERT D. STETHEM EDUCATIONAL CENTER

Story by Judy Colbert

"He was a hero who believed in his Navy and believed in his nation. He had the courage and the fortitude of a lion, and he showed it on that day in June of 1985," says Ken Stethem of his younger brother, Robert Dean Stethem, Jr.

You may recognize the name from Hezbollah terrorists on June 14, 1985 A tile mural of a ship named after Stethem is displayed at the Robert D. Stethem Memorial Sports with 153 passengers and crewmembers the Stethem Educational Center in Pomfret. Complex in Waldorf, a facility comprised on board. Stethem was flying from an often little league and big league baseball assignment at Nea Makri, Greece, where fields, a football practice area, a play• his team had been sent t» repair a Navy ground, and a picnic pavilion. The Steth• communications facility, when the com• em family lived on Dennis Road in the mercial flight was hijacked. The flight was Pinefleld neighborhood off Mattawoman scheduled to travel fi-om Athens to Rome Beantown Road, next-to the park. before flying to the States. Instead, the Or, you may have heard of the hijackers ordered the flight to Beirut, Stethem Educational Center in Pomiret, Lebanon, where they tortured and killed the Charles County Public Schools alter• Stethem the next day, and dumped his Flags fly at the Stethem Memorial Sports Complex in native education center Male and female body on the airport tarmac. Waldorf. students in grades 6-12 attend the center The Navy wrote of the incident, for alternative services, with a special "Stethem was singled out by Lebanese focus on automotive repair services; hijackers because of his military status interactive media production (graphic and was badly beaten and ultimately mur• design and video production); heating, dered after their demands were not met. ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC); Throughout his ordeal Stethem did not horticultural services; and pharmacy yield; instead, he acted with fortitude and technician training. courage and helped his fellow passengers They are both named for Stethem, a endure by his example." Navy diver and passenger on TWA Flight Stethem was bom on November 17, 847, which was hijacked by Lebanese (Continued on page 14.) Stethem's grove is at Arlington Notional Cemetery.

FALL 201 5 /J — STETHEM LEGACY — HISTORY LESSON HONOR COURAGE COMMITMENT

HONORS AND AWARDS

• SW2(DV) Robert D. Stethem was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart in 1985 and the Bronze Star for heroism and bravery in 1986. His citation for the Bronze Star reads: "For heroic achievement on 15 June 1985 while assigned to Detachment NM-85 of Underwater Construction Team One, deployed to the Naval Communications Station Hea Makri, Greece. Petty Officer Stethem displayed exceptional valor and Above: Left to right, Patricio Stethem, professional integrity while a hostage of militant Shiite hijack• Richard Stethem, Kenneth Stethem, ers of TWA Flight 847 at Athens International Airport, Algiers, Robert Stethem, Sheryl Stethem and, Algeria, and at Beirut, Lebanon. Exhibiting physical, moral, front and center, Patrick Stethem, on and emotional courage beyond extraordinary limits. Petty the day Richard retired from the Navy Officer Stetham 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 themAbove : Stethem in second grade, at age 8. of the strength of the United States of America, and in their cowardly desperation, shot him to death. Petty Officer Right: Stethem at age 22. His family remembers him every day, Stetham's courage, steadfast determination, and loyal devo•and is grateful for the ways Southern Maryland has honored him. tion to duty reflected great credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Haval Service. Signed by John Lehman, Secretary of the Navy."(Continuedfrom page 13.) 1961, the third of four children of Richard He was posthumously awarded the • Robert 0. Stethem Memorial Park in Waldorf was dedicated and Patricia Stethem. He grew up in Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for in his honor in 1990. Waldorf, where he attended the Oiarles heroism. • TheUSS Stethem was launched on June 17,1994 and was County Career Vocational-Technical Center christened on July 16, 1994 by his mother, Patricia Stethem. In 1995, the U.S. Navy commissioned for the Industrial Electricity program. In an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile • The U.S Navy Seabees named the Port Hueneme Naval Construction Training Center Headquarters Building and1980 a , he graduated from Thomas Stone desfroyer, DDG-63, the USS Robert Dean street on the base in Oxnard, Co., in his honor. High School, where he played defensive Stethem, in his honor. As part of the • A memorial to Robert Dean Stethem sits at MDSU ONEbac in k on the junior varsity and varsity foot• Pacific Fleet, it's home-ported in Hawaii as a reminder of his bravery ball teams. On May 4, 1981, Stethem Yokosuko, Japan, the front line of our • The Robert D. Stethem Barracks, Training Support Centerreporte d for duty in the U.S. Navy, as had Forward Deployed Naval Forces in the Hampton Roads in Virginia^eacb, Va., and Stethem his father and older brother before him. {A Pacific. Memorial Navy Lodge, Naval Construction Battalion Centeryounge in r brother, Patrick, joined after him.) More recently, Stethem and five Navy Gulfport, Miss., are named in his honor His mother worked for the Navy as a civil• Seabees who survived the hijacking were • On August 24,2010, 25 years after his killing, Stethem wasian adminisfrator awarded the Prisoner of War Medal by the frocked to the honorary rank of Master Chief Constructionman Petty Officer in a ceremony onboard USS Attending recruit training in Great Secretary of the Navy, an honor that did Stethem in Yokosuka, Japan, by order of the Master ChiefLakes , HI., Stethem was frained as a diver, not exist when Stethem was killed. Petty Officer of the Navy. His brother, Kenneth, accepteda steelworke the r and a Seabee. He was While the USS Stethem has a memor• certificate and decorations on behalf of the Stethem familyassigne d to the Naval Mobile Construction ial service every year, flowers are placed • The Stethem Educational Center in Pomfret is renamedBattalio in his n 62, home-ported at Gulfport, on Stethem's Arlington grave periodically honor Miss., and then assigned to Navy and his name is borne on buildings and • On April 24,2015, Stethem and the five surviving membersUnderwate r Construction Team No. 1, in ships, the family "remembers him every of the 1985 terrorists attack on TWA 847 were presentedNorfolk , Va. He had reached the rank of single day, as much on the anniversary or with Prisoner of War Medals by Secretary of the Navy Ray his birthday as an ordinary day," says Mabus. Petty Oflicer at the time of his death at the age 23. Twenty-five years later, he was Kenneth. He adds that the family is "very • Stethem is interred at Arlington National Cemetery, Plot: Section 59, Lot 430, Grid EE-25, near a number of otherfrocked to the honorary rank of Master gratefiil that Southern Maryland has hon• Americans who were victims of international terrorism.Chie f Petty OfiQcer ored [him] in the way that they have." •

SOUTHERN MARYLAND-THIS IS LIVING