Station HYPO

Born September 14, 1977, 23 years old

Kris Romeo Bishundat was born in Georgetown, Guyana on September 14, 1977 to Bhola and Basmattie Bishundat, and was the oldest of three children. Waldorf, Maryland became home when he was only two years old and has been home ever since. Known to family and friends as Romeo, he graduated from Thomas Stone High School in 1995, and enlisted in the Navy on September 13, 1995. After graduating from boot camp in November 1995 and Service Command School in April 1996, then IT3 Bishundat reported for one year of duty aboard the U.S.S. Yorktown (CG 48). In November 1997, he transferred to the U.S.S. Shreveport (LPD 12) where he, according to LT Mike Coleman, then his Division Officer, “quickly established himself as one of the finest sailors to ever walk the decks of the Supergator.”

Born September 6, 1974, 27 years old

Angela was born September 6, 1974 in La Plata, Maryland. She was educated at local schools, graduating as salutatorian of Maurice J. McDonough High School in 1992. She was awarded a full scholarship in the humanities program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), in the first year it was offered. As part of this program, she also studied abroad.

Born August 24, 1975, 26 years old

Lieutenant Darin Howard Pontell, a 26-year-old native of Columbia, Maryland, was finishing his 12-hour shift when terrorists attacked the Pentagon.

Born July 30, 1957, 44 years old

Gregg H. Smallwood served 19 years in the United States Navy, reaching the rank of Chief Petty Officer in 2000, in his Pentagon post at the Office of the Chief Information Systems Technician. His career in the United States Navy included the following duty stations: U.S.S. Henry B. Wilson (DDG 7), November 1976 to May 1977; Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas, September 1977 to September 1979; Navy Communications Area Master Station, WESTPAC Guam, October 1979 to October 1981; U.S.S. Reasoner, April 1988 to January 1992; Naval Computer Telecommunications Station, San Diego, California, February 1992 to September 1994; Naval Air Station North Island, California, September 1994 to January 1995; Naval Computer Telecommunications Station, Diego Garcia, April 1995 to May 1996; U.S.S. Harry W. Hill (DD 986), July 1996 to March 1998; and Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, DC, July 1998 to September 2001.

Lionel Olmer graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1957 and was commissioned as an Ensign after completion of OCS, Newport, R.I. in 1958. Following a brief assignment at Barin Field in Foley, Alabama, he spent 8 weeks at Imperial Beach, California preparatory to transfer to Kami Sea, Japan for a tour with the Naval Security Group Department. He later said that these two months proved exceptionally valuable because he learned the Morse Code which proved useful during later duty on “900 (submarines) Missions.”

Born May 26, 1967, 34 years old

Rodney Ratchford tried to talk about his wife in the present tense. Amid the devastation at the Pentagon, where Marsha D. Ratchford worked for the Navy as an information technician, her husband had not given up hope. It’s what she would have wanted.