Six Navy Seabees honored with POW medal at McNair

By Jim Dresbach, Pentagram Staff WriterApril 30, 2015

Six Navy Seabees honored with POW medal at McNair
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Members of the Navy's Underwater Construction Team ONE, Detachment NOVEMBER MIKE '85 listen to remarks during a Prisoner of War Medal Ceremony April 24 on the Fort McNair portion of Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. Five survivors of a 1985 terrorist a... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Six Navy Seabees honored with POW medal at McNair
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus (left) congratulates Clinton Lee Suggs following an April 24 medal presentation where Suggs received the Prisoner of War Medal at the Fort McNair portion of Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. Suggs was one of six Navy Sea... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Calling the recognition, "far, far, far past due," Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus presented six Navy Seabees Prisoner of War Medals in front of the Inter-American Defense College on the Fort Lesley J. McNair portion of Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall April 24.

Engineering Aid 1st Class Stuart L.J. Dahl, Construction Electrician 1st Class Tony Watson, Equipment Operator 1st Class Jeffrey J. Ingalls, Steelworker 2nd Class Kenneth M. Bowen, Construction Electrician 2nd Class Clinton Lee Suggs and Steelworker 2nd Class Robert D. Stethem were awarded the medals nearly 30 years after a Middle East terrorism incident. In June 1985, the six Seabees from the Navy's Underwater Construction Team ONE, Detachment NOVEMBER MIKE '85, were returning home to San Diego when their airline flight was hijacked over the Middle East.

Stethem was murdered and the five survivors endured brutal treatment during 17 days of captivity, according to an official account of the event. Stethem was posthumously honored; his medal was accepted by his parents.

In 1995, the slain Navy diver was bestowed another honor: A Navy guided missile destroyer, the USS Stethem, was commissioned in Stethem's memory.

And April 24, the entire team was honored by the Navy and Mabus.

The history of the Prisoner of War Medal dates to the mid-1980s. President Ronald Reagan authorized the medal in November 1985, and in the case of the Underwater Construction Team ONE, Detachment NOVEMBER MIKE '85 team, a letter-writing campaign and the work of Mabus made the awards happen for the Navy divers. On Dec. 3, 2014, the Navy Secretary officially announced the six would be honored with POW medals.

"This award was not authorized at the time of the tragic event," the Navy secretary told the ceremony crowd. "And so it is far, far, far past due. Every one of you five went on with your service after this awful event. Through those years, you served honorably and helped shape the young men and women of the fleet that we have today.

"I'm privileged to be able to present this medal to each of you, so that you know the Navy recognizes your courageous action you took nearly 30 years ago, but also, Americans everywhere are reminded of who the brave men and women of the Navy are."

Also speaking at the ceremony were Rear Adm. Katherine L. Gregory, commander, naval facilities engineering command chief of civil engineers and Inter-American Defense College Director Rear Adm. Martha E.G. Herb.

Herb's heartfelt words reached toward the survivors and the family of Stethem.

"To the Stethems, we can never fill the space left in your heart from the parting of your son," Herb said. "But we can show you that he is not forgotten."