| Graduation Year | Class of 1985 |
| Date of Passing | Apr 08, 2003 |
| About | Staff Sgt. Robert Stever received the Bronze Star for aiding pinned-down troops during the war in Iraq. He was known to many for his sense of humor. But Army Staff Sgt. Robert Anthony Stever also was known to his close friends and family as the guy who once stopped to administer CPR to a critically ill man -- the kind of guy who would literally do anything for anybody. So it came as no surprise to any of them that during heavy fighting April 8 in Iraq, his final act was to push another soldier out of the path of incoming enemy fire, only to be struck and killed himself. "That's the kind of man Tony was, the kind of hero he was, the kind of soldier he was," Maj. Thomas Cox, an Army chaplain, said during a somber military service for Stever on Wednesday afternoon. Shortly before his death, Stever had driven his vehicle through Iraqi fire to help rescue U.S. troops who had run out of ammunition and fuel and were pinned down by enemy fire as they were pushing into Baghdad. For his actions, the Pendleton High School graduate was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star medal for valor during Wednesday's service on a grassy, windswept hilltop overlooking the distant Blue Mountains. At the end of the ceremony, as 200 people looked on, Lt. Gen. Edward Soriano, commander of the Army's 1st Corps at Fort Lewis, Wash., presented the medal and the U.S. flag that draped Stever's casket to his wife, Cyndi Stever. Stever, 36, had commanded a tank recovery unit and had been deployed to Kuwait in October from Fort Stewart, Ga., with Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 15th Mechanized Infantry, 3rd Brigade of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division. Gov. Ted Kulongoski attended and presented Cyndi Stever with a state flag. The graveside ceremony at Skyview Memorial Park Cemetery included a military rifle salute. It was preceded by a funeral for family and friends attended by more than 100 people at Burns Mortuary Chapel in Pendleton. "Tony was a hero long before that fateful day in Iraq," Sgt. Thomas Pemberton, 24, of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, who served with Stever, said during an emotional eulogy at the military service. "He always put the needs of others before his own," said Pemberton, who broke down several times. "Tony was a tribute and a blessing to those who knew him." NBC reporter David Bloom accompanied Stever's company. Stever and Bloom became friends, and Stever used Bloom's satellite phone to call his wife on their 10th wedding anniversary. Bloom died of a pulmonary embolism April 6, two days before Stever was killed in battle. Stever also is survived by his daughter, Nichole, 10; half brother, Brandon Stever of Lincoln City; stepsister, Paula Stever of Pendleton; and grandparents, Ray and Betty Stever of Pendleton. Stever graduated from Pendleton High School in 1985 and served as a volunteer firefighter with the Pendleton Fire Department for a year. He left this Eastern Oregon town in 1992. He had served as a mechanic in the Army for 12 years and had been stationed in Fort Riley, Kan.; Schweinfurt, Germany; Bosnia; and Macedonia before being assigned to Iraq. Kulongoski, after presenting the state flag, said soldiers are always judged according to both duty and honor. "He did his duty, and he did it with great honor," the governor said. "It's a terrible price; it's an unforgivable price we paid for war." Copyright (c) 2004 Oregonian Publishing Co. RICHARD COCKLE - Correspondent, The Oregonian |
