Robert Allen Sterling

Robert Allen Sterling grew up and attended Creston schools, graduating from Creston High School in the class of 1968. The son of a rural mail carrier, Sterling was a stock boy for a local grocery store before joining the Navy in 1969. His family relocated to nearby Arispe after he left for the Navy. In 1972 Boatswains Mate 3rd Class Sterling was assigned to the USS <i>Worden</i> as part of the 7th Fleet. The <i>Worden</i> was stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam. On April 16, 1972 the ship was hit by rockets accidently fired by U.S. planes, BM3 Sterling was killed in the ensuing explosion. The <i>Worden</i> had been in Southeast Asia for only 39 days at the time of the incident. A memorial was held at the United Methodist Church and his body was buried Graceland Cemetery, both in Creston.