Biography
Robert Stethem was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, but grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia & Waldorf, Maryland. He was one of four children. His father and two brothers also served in the U.S. Navy. His mother was a civilian Navy administrator. He graduated from Thomas Stone High School in 1980, where he played defensive back on the varsity and junior varsity football teams. He joined the Navy shortly after graduating.
In the Navy, Stethem was a Seabee Steelworker assigned to NMCB-62 in Gulfport, MS. Assigned to NMCB-62, Stethem served multiple tours on Diego Garcia and Guam. Later, Stethem became a 2nd Class Navy Diver and was assigned to the Navy's Underwater Construction Team in Little Creek, Virginia.
In June 1985, Petty Officer Stethem was returning from an assignment in Nea Makri, Greece aboard TWA Flight 847 when it was hijacked by members of the Lebanese organization Hezbollah. The hijackers held 39 people hostage for 17 days, demanding the release of 766 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
When their demands were not met, Stethem was targeted as a member of the U.S. military, and was beaten and tortured. Finally, the hijackers shot him and dumped his body onto the tarmac at the Beirut airport.
One of the hijackers, Mohammed Ali Hammadi, was arrested two years later in Frankfurt, Germany. He was tried and convicted of Stethem's murder. He was sentenced to life in jail. Three others, Imad Mugniyah, Hassan Izz-Al-Din and Ali Atwa were eventually indicted for their involvement in the incident. In 2002, they were added to the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list. On February 13, 2008, Imad Mugniyah was killed in an explosion in Damascus, Syria.
Mohammed Ali Hammadi was paroled in December 2005 and returned to Lebanon. It is speculated that he was released in a prisoner swap in exchange for the release of Susanne Osthoff, who was kidnapped in Iraq one month earlier.
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