25 Years Later, Vestal Remembers Navy Officer Killed at the Pentagon on 9/11
This year marks twenty-five years since September 11, 2001. An entire generation has grown up knowing the day only through photographs, old news footage, and stories passed down by people who lived through it.
In the Southern Tier, one of those stories belongs to Robert "Bob" Elseth, a Vestal native who was 37 years old when he was killed in the attack on the Pentagon.
Vestal's Robert Elseth Built a Decade-Long Navy Career
Elseth was born and raised in Vestal and graduated from Vestal High School before attending Ohio State University. He received his commission in the United States Navy in 1987, the same year he finished college.
Over the next decade, he served aboard the USS Claude V. Ricketts, the USS Donald B. Beary, and the USS John Rodgers. He qualified as a Surface Warfare Officer and later taught at the Surface Warfare Officer School in Newport, Rhode Island, where he was named 1994 Junior Officer of the Year for Newport Naval Ashore Commands. He also became a master training specialist and graduated from the Naval War College.
Vestal Native Left Active Duty to Focus on Family
Elseth left active duty in 1997 to spend more time with his wife and daughter. He didn't leave the Navy behind. He stayed on in the Naval Reserve and eventually became executive officer of his reserve unit. In October 2000, he began working in the Naval Command Center at the Pentagon.
Around the same time, he helped start Delta Resources Inc., a defense consulting firm, with a group of friends.
Outside of work, Elseth taught Sunday school to first graders and coached girls' soccer. He was married to Annette, and they had a daughter, Faith.
Pentagon's Robert Elseth Made One Last Call to His Sister
On the morning of September 11, Elseth learned that planes had hit the World Trade Center in New York City. He called his sister Nancy, who worked in Manhattan, to make sure she was safe.
She was. It was their last conversation.
At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon. Elseth was working inside the Naval Command Center at the time. He was one of 184 people killed at the Pentagon and aboard the aircraft that day.
Vestal Remembers Its Connection to September 11
Nearly 3,000 people died on September 11, 2001, each one with a hometown and a family that expected them to come home that night. For the Southern Tier, Robert Elseth is one of the names tied to this area.
Elseth was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
