Thumbnail Sketches of Americans Held Hostage by Hijackers in Beirut

The following thumbnail sketches of the Americans being held hostage in Beirut were compiled by the Times staff, drawing in part from news agency reports.

Crew members:

Philip Maresca, 42, Salt Lake City. First officer on the hijacked flight, Maresca joined TWA in 1967. He is divorced and has no children.

John L. Testrake, 57, Richmond, Mo. Captain of the hijacked jet, Testrake is a 32-year TWA veteran. Married, he has three children from a first marriage and three stepchildren.

Benjamin Zimmermann, 45, Cascade, Ida. Flight engineer on the plane, Zimmermann has been with TWA since 1968. He is married and has three children. Zimmermann’s father, Rev. Elmer C. Zimmermann, died last Saturday at age of 88.

Passengers:

Victor Amburgy, 30, San Francisco. Amburgy, who is single, left a job as a mail carrier to take a lengthy world tour during which the hijacking occurred. His parents, Donald and Ethelyn Amburgy, live in White Lake, Wis., where he grew up. He has three sisters and a brother.

Kenneth Anderson, 62, Fox River Grove, Ill. Anderson, who is married and has one daughter, works for Inland Construction Co. in Chicago. He and his wife, Lorraine, were returning from a church-sponsored tour of Israel when the plane was hijacked. She was later released.

Jerome J. Barczak, 52, San Diego. Barczak, the divorced father of five children, is a civil engineer for General Dynamics Corp. who has been living and working in Egypt. He was on his way home for his daughter’s high school graduation in San Diego.

P. Bowen, Virginia.

Michael R. Brown, 27, Miami. Brown and his wife, Judy, were on their honeymoon when the plane was hijacked. Judy Brown has been released. Brown is a partner in a small North Miami Beach business, Window Covering to Go, Inc.

Robert Brown, 42, Boston. Married and the father of two children, Brown is a senior sales representative for Medi-Tech, a Watertown, Mass.-based medical instruments company. He was in Europe on a business trip.

Leo Byron, 47, Harrisburg, Pa. Married, with one daughter, Byron was traveling in Europe with his wife and daughter, who have been released. He works at Harrisburg State Hospital.

Kurt Carlson, 38, Rockford, Ill. Carlson is married and has a 4-month-old daughter. A roofing and building contractor, he was on a business trip.

Allyn B. Conwell, 39, Houston. An oil field equipment salesman who has been working in the Persian Gulf state of Oman, Conwell had been vacationing with his wife and two children in Greece. The wife and children were not on the plane when it was hijacked.

Thomas V.S. Cullins, 42, Burlington, Vt. Cullins is the owner of a Burlington architectural firm, IDEA USA Inc. Married and the father of one daughter, he was returning from a business trip to Greece.

Stewart Dahl, Virginia.

William J. Darras, 58, Aurora, Ill. Married and the father of three sons, Darras is vice president for international affairs of Weber Marketing Systems, which sells stenciling and labeling machines. He was on a business trip.

Stuart Darsch, 30, Dorchester, Mass. Darsch is graphic artist for Sametz Blackstone Associates. He was vacationing in Europe.

Father Thomas J. Dempsey, 49, St. Charles, Ill. Dempsey is the pastor of St. Patrick’s Church in St. Charles, Ill., where he has served for seven years. He had been on a church tour of Israel. Dempsey, who had talked for years about wanting to visit Israel, joined the tour at almost the last minute.

Grant Elliott, 33, Algonquin, Ill. Elliott, who is single, works for Precision Twist Drill Co. in Crystal Lake, Ill. He had been on a church tour of Israel.

Vicente Garza, 53, Laredo, Tex. Married, with one daughter and three grandchildren, Garza was on vacation with his wife, daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren when the plane was hijacked. All but Garza and his son-in-law, Robert Trautmann Jr., also of Laredo, have been released. Garza owns the River Drive Mall in Laredo, a small department store complex called El Rio Family Center and the Santos Department Store. He is on the board of Banco Mexico, the largest bank in Mexico.

Simon Grossmayer Jr., 57, Algonquin, Ill. Married and the father of five children, Grossmayer is warehouse manager for the J.T. General Store in Barrington, Ill. He had been on a church tour to Israel with his wife, Elaine. She has been released. Grossmayer has only one lung, and has had problems with it in recent months, according to his pastor.

Richard Herzberg, 33, of Norfolk, Va. Herzberg was with his wife, Sue Ellen, on their honeymoon when the hijacking occurred. He is a marketing representative for John Hancock Mutual Insurance Co. She has been released.

Peter Hill, 57, Schaumburg, Ill. Hill, a travel agent, had been directing a church tour to Israel. Hill, the father of three grown children, is the Midwest regional manager for the Good News Travel Agency.

James Hoskins Jr., 22, Indianapolis, Ind. Hoskins, who recently graduated from college, was traveling with his fiancee in Europe. She was among passengers released.

Jeffrey Ingalls, Virginia.

Raymond Johnson, 62, Chicago. A retired truck driver for Sunbeam Corp., Johnson, the father of six children, had been on a church tour to Israel with his wife, Margaret, 60. She has been released.

George Lazansky, 53, Algonquin, Ill. Married and the father of three sons, Lazansky is vice president of the Algonquin State Bank. He had been on a church tour to Israel with his wife, Jo Anne, who has been released.

Jack McCarthy, Boston.

Father James W. McLoughlin, 45, Geneva, Ill. McLoughlin has served as pastor of St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Geneva, Ill., since 1983. He had been on a church tour of Israel.

Richard Moon, 62, Asheville, N.C. A doctor, Moon is married and has two children. He was returning from a vacation at the time of the hijacking.

Thomas M. Murry, 52, Newbury Park, Calif. Married and the father of two daughters, Murry is a field engineer for the Ventura division of Northrop Corp. He was on a business trip to Europe.

Jimmy Palmer, 48, Little Rock, Ark. Palmer is married and has three sons. He has lived and worked in Saudia Arabia for the past several years as an air conditioning and refrigeration specialist for Borg-Warner Corp.

Bob Peel Jr., 33, Hutchinson, Kan. Peel, who is married and has three daughters, helps run his family’s wholesale beauty supplies business. Peel, his wife Kristi, and his parents were vacationing together when the plane was hijacked. His relatives have been released.

Clinton Suggs, 29, Virginia Beach, Va. Married, Suggs has a nine-month-old son.

Blake Synnestvedt, 24, Philadelphia. Synnestvedt had been on a honeymoon with his wife, Jane Sharp, who has been released. A civil engineer, Synnestvedt is scheduled to take up a job with Garrett Pneumatics in Phoenix.

Arthur Toga, 33, St. Louis, Mo. Toga had been on vacation in Europe. Married, with his first child due in September. Toga is a researcher in the neurology department of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Toga’s wife, Debra, was also on the plane but was released.

Ralph W. Traugott, 32, Lunenburg, Mass. Traugott, a car dealer, was returning to the United States from visiting his fiancee in Athens.

Robert Trautmann, 37, Laredo, Tex. Trautmann was on vacation with his wife, Irma, their children and her parents when the hijacking occurred. All but Trautmann and his father-in-law, Vicente Garza, have been released. Trautmann owns North Town Development Co., which deals primarily in residential development.

Tony Daniel Watson, 27, Virginia Beach, Va. Watson is married and has two children.

Claude E. Whitmoyer, Severn, Md. Whitmoyer is married and has two children.

Steve Willett, 36, Thibodaux, La. Willett is the sales manager for Cameco Industries, a sugar machinery manufacturing company. He was taking his wife, Marsha, and their two sons, to places he had visited on business. His family members were released.

Compiled by Times staff writer David Holley and researcher Alma Cook in Los Angeles and Chicago bureau researcher Wendy Leopold.