Navy Cryptologic Technician 1st Class Steven Phillip Daugherty

Died July 6, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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28, of Barstow, Calif.; assigned to an East Coast-based SEAL team; died July 6 as a result of enemy action while conducting combat operations near Baghdad. Also killed were Mass Communications Specialist 1st Class Robert Richard McRill and Special Warfare Operator 1st Class (SEAL) Jason Dale Lewis.

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Barstow sailor killed by Iraq bomb

The Associated Press

BARSTOW, Calif. — Petty Officer 1st Class Phillip Daugherty, a Navy cryptologic technician from Barstow, was killed by an improvised bomb in Iraq.

Daugherty, 28, was on his second tour in Iraq but was considering coming home next month for his 10-year high school reunion, his mother said.

Daugherty was killed July 6 in Baghdad when a bomb exploded under a Humvee in which he was riding. Also killed were Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Dale Lewis, 30, of Brookfield, Conn., and Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Richard McRill, 42, of Lake Placid, Fla.

All were assigned to Naval Special Warfare Group Two, a SEAL team based in Norfolk, Va.

Daugherty had a 5-year-old son.

He was student of the month at Barstow High School in June 1997 with a 3.5 grade-point average. After graduating in 1997, he attended Barstow Community College for two years and then enlisted.

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

Daugherty also is survived by his father, Tom; brothers Richard and Robert, and a sister, Kristine.

Daugherty will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., his mother said.