U.S. Navy Cmdr. Robert Emmett Smith, a Mt. Lebanon native, is one of two recipients of the 2008 Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale Award for Inspirational Leadership.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead presented the U.S. Navy's highest leadership award to Mr. Smith on Nov. 4 in the Hall of Heroes at the Pentagon.

The Stockdale Award is presented annually to two commissioned officers on active duty, below the grade of captain, who are or were in command of a single ship, submarine, aviation squadron, Seal team, Seal delivery team, special boat team, explosive ordnance disposal mobile unit, mobile diving and salvage unit, or Navy special clearance team.

Mr. Smith was recognized for his time in command of Seal Team 2 and is the first Navy Seal ever to receive the award.

The achievement is significant because, unlike most Navy awards, recipients must be nominated by peers. They must be viewed by peers as demonstrating qualities that were embodied by Adm. Stockdale, whose naval career symbolized the highest standards of excellence in personal example and leadership.

Adm. Stockdale is best remembered for his leadership as the senior Naval officer held in captivity during the Vietnam War. As commanding officer of Carrier Air Group 16, Adm. Stockdale was shot down on Sept. 9, 1965, while leading a mission.

Imprisoned and tortured for several years, he organized a prisoner culture in defiance of regulations forbidding them communication, and improvised a set of rules for governing prisoner behavior. These rules gave prisoners a sense of hope and the strength to endure their ordeal.

Mr. Smith's parents, Helen and James L. Smith, of Mt. Lebanon, plus his two sisters, four brothers, some 20 other family members and a few high school friends attended the ceremony.

A 1984 graduate of Mt. Lebanon High School, he is stationed in Stuttgart, Germany, with his wife, Cindy, and his son, Robert Jr., 10.