This site is for mothers of kids in the U.S. Navy and for Moms who have questions about Navy life for their kids.

FIRST TIME HERE?

FOLLOW THESE STEPS TO GET STARTED:

Choose your Username.  For the privacy and safety of you and/or your sailor, NO LAST NAMES ARE ALLOWED, even if your last name differs from that of your sailor (please make sure your URL address does not include your last name either).  Also, please do not include your email address in your user name. Go to "Settings" above to set your Username.  While there, complete your Profile so you can post and share photos and videos of your Sailor and share stories with other moms!

Make sure to read our Community Guidelines and this Navy Operations Security (OPSEC) checklist - loose lips sink ships!

Join groups!  Browse for groups for your PIR date, your sailor's occupational specialty, "A" school, assigned ship, homeport city, your own city or state, and a myriad of other interests. Jump in and introduce yourself!  Start making friends that can last a lifetime.

Link to Navy Speak - Navy Terms & Acronyms: Navy Speak

All Hands Magazine's full length documentary "Making a Sailor": This video follows four recruits through Boot Camp in the spring of 2018 who were assigned to DIV 229, an integrated division, which had PIR on 05/25/2018. 

Boot Camp: Making a Sailor (Full Length Documentary - 2018)

Boot Camp: Behind the Scenes at RTC

...and visit Navy.com - America's Navy and Navy.mil also Navy Live - The Official Blog of the Navy to learn more.

OPSEC - Navy Operations Security

Always keep Navy Operations Security in mind.  In the Navy, it's essential to remember that "loose lips sink ships."  OPSEC is everyone's responsibility. 

DON'T post critical information including future destinations or ports of call; future operations, exercises or missions; deployment or homecoming dates.  

DO be smart, use your head, always think OPSEC when using texts, email, phone, and social media, and watch this video: "Importance of Navy OPSEC."

Follow this link for OPSEC Guidelines:

OPSEC GUIDELINES

Events

**UPDATE 4/26/2022** Effective with the May 6, 2022 PIR 4 guests will be allowed.  Still must be fully vaccinated to attend.

**UPDATE as of 11/10/2022 PIR vaccination is no longer required.

**UPDATE 7/29/2021** You now must be fully vaccinated in order to attend PIR:

In light of observed changes and impact of the Coronavirus Delta Variant and out of an abundance of caution for our recruits, Sailors, staff, and guests, Recruit Training Command is restricting Pass-in-Review (recruit graduation) to ONLY fully immunized guests (14-days post final COVID vaccination dose).  

FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR UP TO DATE INFO:

RTC Graduation

**UPDATE 8/25/2022 - MASK MANDATE IS LIFTED.  Vaccinations still required.

**UPDATE 11/10/22 PIR - Vaccinations no longer required.

RESUMING LIVE PIR - 8/13/2021

Please note! Changes to this guide happened in October 2017. Tickets are now issued for all guests, and all guests must have a ticket to enter base. A separate parking pass is no longer needed to drive on to base for parking.

Please see changes to attending PIR in the PAGES column. The PAGES are located under the member icons on the right side.

Format Downloads:

Navy Speak

Click here to learn common Navy terms and acronyms!  (Hint:  When you can speak an entire sentence using only acronyms and one verb, you're truly a Navy mom.)

N4M Merchandise


Shirts, caps, mugs and more can be found at CafePress.

Please note: Profits generated in the production of this merchandise are not being awarded to the Navy or any of its suppliers. Any profit made is retained by CafePress.

Navy.com Para Familias

Visite esta página para explorar en su idioma las oportunidades de educación y carreras para sus hijos en el Navy. Navy.com

Badge

Loading…

Welcome to the Navy Trivia section. Every so often I will ask a question about the Navy or a famous sailor. Remember, its not important that you get the answer correct. What is important is that you remember this Navy information so you can pass it along to others....... GO NAVY!

Views: 19417

Replies to This Discussion

Welcome to the Navy Trivia section. Every so often I will ask a question about the Navy or a famous sailor. Remember, its not important that you get the answer correct. What is important is that you remember this Navy information so you can pass it along to others....... GO NAVY!

I am a famous sailor, who am I?


I am Paul Newman -

His blue eyes have been written about so much that he probably wishes they could be copyrighted. Perhaps less widely known is that Paul Leonard Newman enlisted in the U.S. Navy on 22 January 1943, after his graduation from Shaker Heights High School in Cleveland, Ohio. The second son of a thriving sporting-goods storekeeper (Arthur, his brother, eventually became a film production manager), Paul (born 1925) had acted in a few school productions but had never considered making a profession of show business. He attended Ohio University in Athens while he waited to hear from the Navy, and during his months there he had time to perform in another school production, The Milky Way, in which he played a boxer.

Newman was sent to the Navy V-12 program at Yale, with hopes of being accepted for pilot training. But this plan was foiled when a flight physical revealed him to be color-blind. So he was sent instead to boot camp and then on to further training as a radioman and gunner.

Paul Newman, Actor, He has been nominated six times for best-actor Oscars (Cat on a Hot Tine Roof 1958; The Hustler, 1961; Hud, 1963; Cool Hand Luke, 1967; Absence of Malice, 1981; and The Verdict, 1982), and he won the actor-of-the-year award at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival for The Long Hot Summer, with Joanne Woodward. This down-to-earth, Budweiser-drinking (counteracted by daily workouts), regular-guy superstar has made a career of turning in memorable performances. Delighting his audiences time after time in films including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Sting, (1973), and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), Paul Newman was finally recognized with an Academy Award for his portrayal of The Hustler's Fast Eddie Felson, now middle-aged, in The Color of Money (1986).

Paul Newman is/was committed to helping make the world a better place. To carry on his philanthropic legacy, Newman’s Own Foundation donates all net royalties and profits after taxes it receives from the sale of Newman’s Own products to charities worldwide. So far, it has donoted more than $300M to thosands of charities around the world.

Welcome to the Navy Trivia section. Every so often I will ask a question about the Navy or a famous sailor. Remember, its not important that you get the answer correct. What is important is that you remember this Navy information so you can pass it along to others....... GO NAVY! 

 

I am a famous sailor, who am I?



I am Fred Gwynne (aka Herman Munster), American Actor, and a United States Navy Sailor!

 

The lumbering six-foot, five-inch tail Fred Gwynne followed a complicated path to his destined role as the fumbling and sweet-tempered Herman Munster.

 

Born Frederick Hubbard Gwynne in New York City on July 10, 1926,  as the son of a wealthy stockbroker, Fred was packed off early to a prestigious "Groton"  preparatory school  located in Groton Massachusetts .  After gradua­tion from High School in 1944, he enlisted in the Navy as a radioman 3rd class on a Pacific sub-chaser at the end of World War II.  

 

Later, Fred spent a year at a design school developing his dormant drawing talents and then entered Harvard University on the G.I Bill, where he majored in English.  At Harvard, he presided over and contributed car­toons to the "Harvard Lampoon" and after a few performances in the Hasty Pudding Clubs farcical productions, Fred decided that his future was on stage.  After graduating from Harvard with the class of 1951, Gwynne acted in Shakespeare with a Cambridge, Massachusetts repertory company before heading to New York City, where he supported himself as a musician and copywriter. His principal source of income for many years came from his work as a book illustrator and as a commercial artist. His first book, "The Best in Show",  was published in 1958.

 

Most casting directors found Fred too tall or unattractive, but he did manage to appear in a few Broadway plays and even had a bit part in On the Waterfront, though work as a commercial artist was really paying the bills. Finally, in 1961, he was hired to co-star in the TV sitcom about two hapless cops, Car 54, Where Are you?  as the dim-witted Officer Francis Muldoon.  After cancellation of "Car 54's" after a two-year run,  Fred finally found a tailor-made role in The Munsters as Herman Munster. Actually, Fred wasn't completely perfect for the part—he had to wear five-inch-high platform soles, bolt through his neck, and a jagged haircut, and had to wear 40 - 50 lbs of padding and makeup for the role.  He reportedly lost ten pounds in one day of filming under the hot lights but he was right at home as a lovable Frankenstein, and audiences adored him.

 

Although "The Musters" episodes were shot in black-and-white, Gwynne wore green make-up and, far from portraying Herman Munster as frightening, made him lovable. The series, which began in 1964, ran for two years and 70 episodes, and Gwynne appeared in the spin-off film Munster Go Home, and the television movie The Munsters' Revenge (1981).

 

Fred found that the Herman Munster role had typecast him for life. But eventually, as his hair thinned and his Facial features became patriarchal, he returned to Broadway and film, usually as a boom­ing, authoritative character. Fred's career took on new zest in 1992 when he played an autocratic Southern judge, Chamberlain Haller, in the comedy film My Cousin Vinny, his last film.

 

But Fred decided to go out while he was still on top and, even as the accolades  for My Cousin Vinny poured in, he withdrew and purchased a farm in rural Maryland. After just a short period of tranquility, Fred was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Surgery and chemotherapy followed, but the cancer continued to spread. He died at 66.  He was just eight days shy of turning 67 years old. He is sorely missed by Baby Boomers who grew up delighted by his "Officer Francis Muldoon" and "Herman Munster" and were gratified by his late-career renaissance on film.


He left behind his first wife Foxy. They had five children and divorced in 1980.  He and his second wife Deb, whom he married in 1981, lived in a renovated farmhouse in rural Taneytown, Maryland. His neighbors described him as a good friend and neighbor who kept his personal and professional lives separate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, my goodness! I haven't thought of Car 54, Where Are You? in years! Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Craig.

Who am I?......

 

 

I am Clyde W. Tombaugh, Astronomer, the discoverer of the ex-planet Pluto, and a United States Navy Sailor!


Unlike most Sailors, I was famous before I decided to join the Navy (1942-1945). As a teen I was an amateur astronomer, and constructed my own telescope using a shaft scavenged from a 1910 Buick and grinding the lens and mirror by myself. I sketched the surfaces of Mars and Jupiter, using only my homemade instruments.


I wanted to attend college but after a 1927 hailstorm, I had to help on my father's farm. Seeking only advice, I sent a portfolio of my work to the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, but the observatory's director V.M. Slipher offered me a low-paying job as a photographic assistant. At Lowell, I discovered two comets, more than a dozen asteroids, and hundreds of previously unknown variable stars, and on 18 February 1930 I made my best-known scientific accomplishment, detecting what was then regarded as the ninth planet of our solar system, Pluto.


After four years at Lowell Observatory I entered the University of Kansas, while continuing to work at the observatory during the summers. I signed up for Astronomy 101 but was rejected on the grounds that my discovery of Pluto had already made me one of the world's most famous astronomers, and it would be absurd to accept me for such an introductory class.


During World War II, I entered the Navy and was assigned to teach astronomy, and after the war I worked at the White Sands Missile Range in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where I designed the Intercept Ground Optical Recorder super-camera. In my astronomical work I also saw several unidentified flying objects, and I was also among the first respected astronomers to call for a serious scientific inquiry into the phenomenon.


During my lifetime I was commonly referred to the only person to discover a planet in our solar system in the 20th Century, but nine years after my 1997 death the International Astronomic Union reclassified Pluto, demoting it to sub-planetary status.

Welcome to the Navy Trivia section. Every so often I will ask a question about the Navy or a famous sailor. Remember, its not important that you get the answer correct. What is important is that you remember this Navy information so you can pass it along to others....... GO NAVY!

I am a famous sailor, who am I?
(I bet this is the 1st time you've ever hear this)



- I am a U.S. Sailor.

- I grew up in Mooreville, Indiana. As a teenager I was a troublemaker.

- When two police officers who wanted to question me about the pistol I was
carrying, I gave a false name, slipped out of the overcoat one officer had
grabbed, and ran. The cops fired seven shots at me.

- To get out of town quick, I went to the Federal Building and signed up for the Navy.

- The Navy was use to taking in wayward youth, and knew time was often of the
essence in getting kids out of town. They accommodated me by shipping me to
Great Lakes Training Station a mere four days later.

- Newly uniformed, I completed basic training , and was assigned to the battleship
USS Utah as a fireman, third class. Which meant I shoveled coal into the ship’s huge
boilers.

- After 22 days of hot, backbreaking labor, I had enough. I jumped ship in Boston and
went AWOL for a day, to cool off. Upon my return, a deck court martial stamped on Nov. 7
was added to my growing rap sheet along with an $18 fine, — nearly a month’s pay – and
a ten-day “bread and water” stint in the brig.

- A delay in carrying out the sentence gave me the opportunity to get into even more
trouble. On Nov. 9, instead of laying low, I left my duty post “without authority” and
“in disobedience of orders.” Five days of solitary confinement were tacked onto this
previous sentence. If anything, this made me more rebellious. Weeks after my release, I
was in hot water again, failing to return from a 24-hour leave as scheduled on Dec. 3.
The Navy, noting that he “left with no effects — intentions not known,” waited two
weeks, then listed me as a deserter. They also slapped the first ever bounty on my
head, fifty dollars.

- I ended up getting a Dishonorable Discharge from the Navy.

- Most people would never have thought I was in the Navy, because I'm much more famous
for being a Bank robber.

- It is alledged that I was also a murderer, however the police shot and killed me before
I could be convicted.

- I loved women, and I was a womanizer, however, I can’t stand women who wear red.

- It is believe by many people that I was INCREDIBLY well-endowed (if you know what I mean).
Every week someone writes the Smithsonian asking if they (the Smithsonian) has my “anatomy”.
Pictures speak 1000's words, my death bed photo's is hard to dispute.!


Who am I?

Hint: It's not the Dos Equis guy who is "The most interesting man in the world"..... "I don't
always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis".... "Stay thirsty my friends"


Answer:

I am John Dillinger, Bank Robber and womanizer, and United States Navy Sailor!

(Since he went to Great Lakes for boot camp, I know you'll be thinking "wow, this guy was actually there.")

The comment about can't standing women who wears red is because of this:
The Bureau of Investigation (BOI, precursor of the FBI) Chief J. Edgar Hoover created a
special task force headquartered in Chicago to locate Dillinger. On July 21 a madam from
a brothel in Gary, Indiana, Ana Cumpănaş, also known as Anna Sage, contacted the police.
She was a Romanian immigrant threatened with deportation for "low moral character", and
offered the BOI information on Dillinger in exchange for their help in preventing her
deportation. The BOI agreed to her terms.

Cumpănaş told them that Dillinger was spending his time with another prostitute, Polly Hamilton, and that she and the couple would be going to see a movie together on the following day. She agreed to wear an orange dress, which appeared red in the lights of the theater, so that police could easily identify her at the theater. She was unsure which theater they would be attending, but told the BOI the name of the two theaters, the Biograph and the Marbro, in which they would potentially be.

A team of both BOI agents and officers from police forces outside Chicago was formed. Chicago
police officers were excluded because it was felt that the Chicago police had been compromised
and could not be trusted. Not chancing another embarrassing escape, the police were split
into two teams.

On July 22, one team was sent to the Marbro Theater on the city's West Side, while another team surrounded the Biograph Theater at 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue on the North Side. During the stakeout, the Biograph's manager thought the agents were criminals setting up a robbery. He called the Chicago police who dutifully responded and had to be waved off by the BOI, who told them that they were on a stakeout for an important target. Dillinger attended the film Manhattan Melodrama at the Biograph Theater in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Dillinger was with his girlfriend, Polly Hamilton, and Ana Cumpănaş. Once they determined that Dillinger was in the theater, the lead agent (Samuel A. Cowley) contacted J. Edgar Hoover for instructions, who recommended that they wait outside rather than risk a gun battle in a crowded theater. He also told the agents not to put themselves in harm's way, and that any man could open fire on Dillinger at the first sign of resistance.

When the movie let out, Special Agent Melvin Purvis stood by the front door and signaled Dillinger's exit by lighting a cigar. Both he and the agents reported that Dillinger turned his head and looked directly at the agent as he walked by, glanced across the street, then moved ahead of his female companions, reached into his pocket but failed to extract his gun, and ran into a nearby alley.

Three agents opened fire, firing five shots. Dillinger was hit from behind and he fell face first
to the ground. Two female bystanders were slightly wounded in the legs and buttocks by flying
bullet and brick fragments. Dillinger was struck three times, twice in the chest, one actually
nicking his heart, and the fatal shot, which entered the back of his neck and exited just under
his right eye. An ambulance was summoned, though it was clear that Dillinger had quickly died
from his gunshot wounds. At 10:50 p.m. on July 22, 1934, John Dillinger was pronounced dead
at Alexian Brothers Hospital. According to the BOI, Dillinger died without saying a word.
There were also reports of people dipping their handkerchiefs and skirts into the pools of blood
that had formed as Dillinger lay in the alley in order to secure keepsakes of the entire affair.
Dillinger's body was displayed to the public at the Cook County morgue after his death. Dillinger
is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery (Section: 44 Lot: 94) in Indianapolis.

Here is some for info about John Dillinger...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dillinger

http://militarytimes.com/blogs/scoopdeck/2009/07/06/fireman-3rd-cla...

http://www.snopes.com/risque/penile/dillinger.asp

http://www.nndb.com/people/939/000095654/

Welcome to the Navy Trivia section. Every so often I will ask a question about the Navy or a famous sailor. Remember, its not important that you get the answer correct. What is important is that you remember this Navy information so you can pass it along to others....... GO NAVY!

I am a famous sailor, who am I?

 

 

~ I was youngest person ever to enlist in the United States Navy, and
the youngest U.S. serviceman during World War II.
~ I enlisted in the Navy at age 12 following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
~ I was wounded at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, while serving aboard
the USS South Dakota.
~ During the battle, I helped in the fire control efforts aboard the South Dakota,
but I suffered shrapnel wounds in the process.
~ For my actions I was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
~ However, my mother later revealed my age, and after spending months in a
brig (I was not released until after my sister threatened to contact the newspapers), I
was dishonorably discharged for lying about my age and lost all disability benefits.
~ I later joined the United States Marines at age 17, but my service ended about three
years later when I fell from a pier and broke my back.
~ Although serving in the Marines qualified me as a veteran, I would spend the rest of
my life fighting for medical benefits and a clean record.
~ In 1978, I was finally awarded an honorable discharge, and after writing to Congress
and with the approval of President Jimmy Carter, all medals but my Purple Heart were
reinstated.
~ I received disability and back pay in 1988.
~ My Purple Heart was finally reinstated and presented to my widow, Mary, nearly two
years after my death. 4/3/30 - 11/6/92
~ My story came to public attention in 1988, when my story was told in the TV movie, Too
Young the Hero. I was played by Rick Schroder.

Who am I ?
.
..
...
....
.....
......
.......
Answer: I am Calvin Leon Graham, youngest serviceman during WW2, and United States Navy Sailor!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Graham

Welcome to the Navy Trivia section. Every so often I will ask a question about the Navy or a famous sailor. Remember, its not important that you get the answer correct. What is important is that you remember this Navy information so you can pass it along to others....... GO NAVY!

I am a famous sailor, who am I?

 


Ok guys, you know I love weird Navy stuff, and I bet only a few will know the answer before I get to the bottom.

So here I go……

 

On 24 Nov 1959, as a 17-year-old high school grad I found myself wandering past a Navy recruitment center and, like so many older men looking back at questionable decisions of their youth, I sums up my teen-aged thought process as “it seemed like a good idea at the time".

 

I learned to be an Air Traffic Control Tower Operator (AC in today’s navy), and was stationed with the U.S. Navy at Naval Air Station, Atsugi Japan in 1960. Even though I was recommended for reenlistment, I decided to “take my chances and get out”. On 20 Dec 1962, I was awarded an Honorable Discharge. Few people would ever believe that!

 

Following my discharge, I attended City College in Los Angeles for a year.  Although I moved to Berkeley to continue my schooling, I was distracted by my love of music and spent most of my time playing in bands like the Berkeley String Quartet and the Instant Action Jug Band.  Then I found the connection I was looking for, Drugs, Sex, & Music.

 

I started to participate in the Civil Rights Movement, at the same time starting my own Musical Group.  The most famous song my band ever to "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin’-to-Die.” Which goes “And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn, Next stop is Vietnam; and it's five, six, seven, Open up the pearly gates, Well there ain't no time to wonder why, Whoopee! we're all gonna die".  Since it had to do with the Vietnam war, they ask me to sing it at Woodstock.  Although my band usually start our show with “gimme an F",  gimme an I, gimme an S, gimme an H,  what's that spell?" yelled many times -- the answer being "Fish Fish Fish,".   But at Woodstock, I changed it to “gimme an F, gimme an U, gimme an C, gimme an K, and then "what's that spell?" yelled many times -- the answer being "F*CK F*CK F*CK".  The audience loved it!

 

Although we were paid in advance for a future appearance on the Ed Sullivan TV show, after Woodstock they said "keep the money but you will never be on the Ed Sullivan show." Today it is, that my group and I played on the Ed Sullivan show. This is because surviving records show our scheduled appearance but in fact we did not appear by their personal request.  Today I am hocking my autographs in the City of Berkeley and on the internet and will gladly hand-sign anything you send if you include a check for $20 US made out to myself.  

Who am I?

=====================

I am “Country Joe” McDonald, My group was Country Joe & the Fish

Singer at Woodstock, famous for the F*CK cheer and the song "Feel Like I'm Fixing To Die" ,

......and a United States Sailor!

 

Keep clicking on the DD214 below to see it....


Welcome to the Navy Trivia section. Every so often I will ask a question about the Navy or a famous sailor. Remember, its not important that you get the answer correct. What is important is that you remember this Navy information so you can pass it along to others....... GO NAVY!


I am a Sailor, Who am I ???................

 

I am Charles David Tandy, Founder & CEO of the Tandy Corporation (RadioShack), philanthropist, and civic leader

 

I graduated from Texas Christian University in 1940 (where he received an LLD degree in 1971), attended Harvard Business School from 1940 to 1941, and served in the United States Navy from 1941 to 1947 as an officer in the Supply Corps.

 

My father had a leather manufacturing business and was partnered with a man named Hinckley.   After serving my time in the Navy during World War II, I decided to join them.   In 1960, I decided to buy out my fathers business partner, and reorganized the firm, and embarked on a strategy of diversification.   I purchased some or all of several companies in an array of different fields, including a crafts shop, a printing company, a rattan furniture wholesaler, an apparel store, an import shop, and a bankrupt chain of nine Boston-area electronics shops called Radio Shack.

 

The import shop, called Cost Plus, was sold in 1966 and re-named Pier 1 Imports, while my Radio Shack became an early leader in the home electronics market. I remained in charge of the company as it developed and introduced the Radio Shack (TRS)-80, the best-selling personal computer of the late 1970s. When I died in 1978, Radio Shack had 2,700 stores and Tandy Corporation was a multinational with $10B annual revenues. Charles Tandy died of a heart attack in his sleep, on 4 November 1978.

 

Thanks, Craig - you always post such interesting information about former Sailors. I can't believe I remember Cost Plus.

Hey all,

Since Veterans Day will soon be here, I wanted to share with you some Navy info about famous veterans that served with the U.S. Navy. I posted this before, but since we have new people, I will post it again.

 

Since I am veteran, and I will not sugarcoat this.  Those that have lots of emotions probably need to stop reading now, because this is VERY emotional.  

WARNING, TISSUE ALERT!

 

Note from Craig:
Not everything is fun and games in the U.S. Navy. I made this post to teach people about the Navy. We must never forget those that protected us.

As others cheer when they see the number 847 come up on their phone, to me, it actually brings a moment to reflect on one sailor.

 

As many of you know 847 is the area code for Great Lakes, and when it appears, it was probably a phone call from their sailor who is calling from boot camp. Not many people know that this number actually brings a moment of silence from veterans that served during the 1985 era. You see, that number was the actual flight number (TWA-847) when we lost a Navy sailor due to terrorism. It is one of the Navy's sadest moment.

 

----------------------------------

 

I am a famous sailor, who am I?

 


I am SW2(DV) Robert Dean Stethem, Jr (Nov 17, 1961 – Jun 15, 1985)

Steelworker Second Class (Diver) Robert D. Stethem, United States Navy Sailor, was a murder victim due to terrorism.

 

Born in Waterbury, Connecticut and raised in Waldorf, Maryland, he was one of three sons (his father and two brothers also served in the US Navy; his mother worked for the Navy as a civilian). After graduating from Thomas Stone High School in 1980, he joined the US Navy, where he was trained as a diver and as a steelworker. He was assigned to the Navy Underwater Construction Team No. 1 in Norfolk, Virginia, and in 1985, the team was sent to Nea Makri, Greece, to repair a Navy Communications facility


On June 15, 1985, Navy Diver Robert Dean Stethem; was on his way home after
a tour of duty in the Middle East onboard TWA flight 847 (Athens to Rome).
Hezballah Shi'ites hijacked the plane with 153 passengers onboard in Athens
Greece. The terrorists soon became suspicious that there were military
personnel on board. In airline stewardess Uli Derickson's account; she was
forced to collect all passports from all passengers. When she got to Robert
Stethem, she did not collect his identification (military ID) for his own
safety. When his I.D. was not collected, one of the hijackers demanded to
know why, and collected the I.D himself. The hijackers then redirected the
plane to Beirut, and demanded fuel once on the ground. When the
international tower refused fuel, the gunmen grabbed Stethem out of his
seat, pushed him towards the cockpit door and bound him with rope. The
terrorists then proceeded to beat and torture him beyond recognition in
order to make him scream into a transmitter (so that the tower would send a
fuel truck). Not a cry was heard to come from him, despite the brutal
beating he endured. Instead he chose to remain silent and endure the
beatings because he knew that the only way a rescue attempt could be
conducted by U.S. forces was if the aircraft remained on the ground.

After Stethem was beaten, tortured and bleeding from puncture wounds all
over his body, he was placed next to a 16-year old Australian girl. As bad
as he was beaten, he had the courage and strength to comfort and console
her. He told her that, "She would be okay and that she would get out of
here alive." When she tried to return the comfort, he said, "No, I don't
think so. I am the only one in my group that is not married and some of the
guys have children, too." He felt it was fair that the terrorists focus
stay on him; that he would die so that the rest of the passengers could
live. Some time later, he was again taken up to the cockpit and tortured in
order to get the fuel. But it didn't work, he simply would not give in to
them.

One of the hijackers was so enraged that he dragged Stethem to the door,
pulled a trigger and shot him in the head. Then he dumped his body onto the
tarmac. As they killed him with a pistol shot to the head, his last words were a prayer to God for strength. His face and body was so badly mangled that he could only be identified by his fingerprints.  While Stethem was being dragged to the door, he knew that all he had to do in order to live was to cry into that transmitter, but he wouldn't do it. When the pilot of TWA 847 was later asked about his impression of Stethem, he simply said: "He was the bravest man I've ever seen in my life".

The Stethem family is a Navy family. His mother was a civilian Navy
administrator, his father and brothers were SEALs.

"Every time I look at the flag now and for the rest of my life,'' said
Kenneth Stethem, "the red will represent the blood he spilled, the blue the
beating and bruises he endured, and the white the purity and integrity he
demonstrated in sacrificing his life.''

In December 2005, hijacker Mohammed Ali Hamadi was released after 19 years
from his prison in Germany despite strong U.S. objections. Shortly
thereafter, the U.S. State Department made the following statement: "We
will track him down, we will find him and we will bring him to justice in
the United States for what he's done".

On February 12, 2008 Imad Mughniyeh, the man behind the TWA 847 hijacking
and the 1983 attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut was assassinated in
Damascus, Syria. It is suspected that this was a combined covert operation
by Israel and American operators. Good riddance - @sshole!

Honors:
1. SW2(DV) Robert D. Stethem was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart
and Bronze Star for heroism and bravery.

 

His citation for the Bronze Star for Heroism 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 Nea Makri, Greece. Petty Officer Stethem displayed exceptional valor and professional integrity while a hostage of militant Shiite hijackers of TWA Flight 847 at Athens International Airport, Algiers, Algeria, and at Beirut, Lebanon. Exhibiting physical, moral, and emotional courage beyond extraordinary limits, Petty 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 them of the strength of the United States of America, and in their cowardly desperation, shot him to death. Petty Officer Stetham'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. Signed by John Lehman, Secretary of the Navy."

2. On 21 October 1995 the Navy's 13th Aegis Destroyer USS STETHEM (DD
63) was commissioned and still serves with honor.

 

 


3. Robert D. Stethem Memorial Park was opened in 1990 in Waldorf, VA.
It includes 10 ball fields, two of which have 90-foot infields; the complex
is the main complex for Waldorf American and Waldorf National Little
Leagues.
4. The U.S. Navy Seabees named the Port Hueneme Naval Construction
Training Center Headquarters Building in his honor.
5. A memorial to Robert Dean Stethem sits at MDSU ONE, Hawaii as a
reminder of his bravery.

Petty Officer Robert Dean Stethem, Jr is interned at Arlington National Cemetery, Plot: Section 59, Lot 430, Grid EE-25

 

God bless you shipmate!  You shall not be forgotten!

WOW, what an outstanding young man, rest in peace hero.

may we never forget .........

RSS

© 2024   Created by Navy for Moms Admin.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service