Date: 4/8/2003
Rank: Staff Sergeant
Branch: U.S. Army
Operation: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Army Staff Sgt. Robert A. Stever was killed in action in Iraq on April 8, 2003. He was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, Ft. Stewart, Ga.
Stever, 36, was known as Tony. He was killed in an ambush as his tank-recovery crew retrieved a disabled vehicle. His wife, Cyndi Stever, said that her husband had bene in the Army for 13 years. He served two tours in Bosnia and one in Macedonia. Iraq was his first time in combat. They celebrated their 10th anniversary March 6 with a long-distance phone call. They have a daughter, Nicole.
“He always had a smile, “said his grandfather, Ray Stever of Pendleton. “He was always willing to help the other person.” One example: Stever gave CPR to a heart attack victim along a Georgia roadside about 1” years ago.
Two weeks before his death, Stever borrowed a satellite phone to call his grandparents. They missed the call by five minutes, but he left word on their answering machine.
“We cherish it,” Ray Stever said. “Tony said he was OK. Everything was going fine, and ‘Don’t worry, if anything happens, Cyndi will call and I love you.’”