BENGHAZI, LYBIA (CNN) -- Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were former Navy SEAL commandos working as diplomatic security officers. Sean Smith was a computer expert with an online alter-ego legendary in the gaming world.
The three men and U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens died in the assault on the American consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi. Details of how they met their fates in the Mediterranean city that had been the cradle of Libya's 2011 revolution were just beginning to emerge Thursday.
On Thursday, a U.S. official confirmed Woods as among the dead. "Tyrone's friends and colleagues called him 'Rone,' and they relied on his courage and skill, honed over two decades as a Navy SEAL," said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a statement.
"In uniform, he served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2010, he protected American diplomatic personnel in dangerous posts from Central America to the Middle East. He had the hands of a healer as well as the arm of a warrior, earning distinction as a registered nurse and certified paramedic. All our hearts go out to Tyrone's wife Dorothy and his three sons, Tyrone Jr., Hunter, and Kai, who was born just a few months ago."
A diplomatic source told CNN that Doherty was in Libya to search for shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles -- a mission given high priority after the fall of longtime Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.
Doherty grew up in Massachusetts with a passion for the outdoors, particularly the mountain West, his family said. Outside the family's home in Woburn, near Boston, his sister remembered him as "our American hero."
Smith's death was among the first reported in the Benghazi fracas. Clinton eulogized him Wednesday as a 10-year veteran of the Foreign Service, an information management officer who had served in Iraq, South Africa, Canada and the Netherlands. The Air Force veteran leaves behind a wife, a son and a daughter.
