Family recalls local sailor killed in Iraq

BARSTOW — His 10-year high school reunion was next month, and his mother, Lydia, said he was considering coming home from Iraq for it.

Tragically, Petty Officer 1st Class Steven Phillip Daugherty, 28, will not make it back. Daugherty and two other sailors, Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Dale Lewis, a SEAL, 30, of Brookfield, Conn., and Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Richard McRill, 42, of Lake Placid, Fla., were killed on Friday by an improvised explosive device in Baghdad, according to a recently released Naval report.

All three were assigned to the Naval Special Warfare Group Two, a Virginia Beach, Va.-based Navy SEAL group. It was Daugherty’s second tour of duty in Iraq.

Daugherty graduated from Barstow High School in 1997. When he earned student of the month honors in June, 1997, he had a 3.5 grade-point average and told the Desert Dispatch he planned to attend Barstow Community College for two years and then enter the Air Force. After making the honor role at BCC and graduating in 1999 with an associates in liberal studies, Daugherty enlisted in the Navy.

“He wanted to see the world and he did,” Lydia said. “He loved the Navy. He loved everything about it. He was just proud to do his job.”

Daugherty traveled to ports in the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean Sea and in Europe during his service on the USS Oscar Austin, Lydia said. In 2004, he transferred to Norfolk, Va., and in 2007 began working with elite Navy SEAL teams as a cryptologic technician. Lt. David Luckett, a spokesman for Naval Special Warfare Group Two, said Daugherty provided critical intelligence support to troops on the ground in Iraq. He said SEAL teams conduct several combat missions every week against foreign insurgents, and sailors like Daugherty worked side-by-side with them.

“They truly are enablers,” Luckett said of combat support sailors like Daugherty and McRill. Due to the sensitivity of Daugherty’s work, Luckett could not reveal exactly what sort of intelligence support he provided.

Daugherty’s commander, Capt. Chaz Heron, called the three sailors “patriots in the truest sense,” in the report.

Lydia said Daugherty enjoyed serving with the SEALs, and he was highly respected by his fellow sailors. Daugherty’s three siblings, all currently enlisted or former military, also spoke highly of their brother.

“I couldn’t be more proud of him,” sister Kristine said. “He was courageous and committed to what he did.”

Kristine served in the Army from October 1994 to July 2002. Daugherty’s two brothers, Richard and Robert, are both in the Air Force. Richard is a staff sergeant, and Robert is a captain.

Daugherty is survived by his parents, Tom and Lydia, his three siblings, and his 5-year-old son. Lydia declined to provide Daugherty’s son’s name.

His awards include the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Combat Action ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Navy ‘E’ ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment ribbon and Good Conduct Medal.

Lydia said he will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. She asked that the Desert Dispatch not publish a photograph of her son.

Contact the writer:

(760) 256-4123 or aaron_aupperlee@link.freedom.com