Robert Peter Schena is buried in Saint Patricks Cemetery, Haverhill, Massachusetts. Photo below taken while in Vietnam with HMM-363. To see additional photos taken by 1Lt Schena and of him while in Vietnam, click on photo links below: Image 4409 Lt Schena (left) and other man with HMM-363 Image 4427 Lt Schena full length photo Image 4428 Lt Schena outside Officer's Club Image 4429 Lt Schena getting haircut. Who is Barber? Image 4445 Group Maintenance Hanger at Ky Ha Image 5034 Lt Schena full length photo To read more details and personal recollections for those killed in that accident, visit PopaSmoke website here.

Photo is of the Type of Helicopter, UH-34D, flown by HMM-363. This one was taken in 1964. Number on Side is "YZ-78". Two HMM-363 H-34 aircraft were proceeding to Quang Ngai Airfield to stand duty as night medevac. The Lead aircraft, YZ-74, had to make a passenger pickup at the Admin Pad before continuing to Quang Ngai. The Lead aircraft radioed his wingman in YZ-76 to orbit over the beach at Chu Lai while Lead made the pickup. While lead was on the ground a radio transmission was received from YZ-76 stating that the aircraft was mechanically defective and that the pilot was returning to Ky Ha to get another aircraft. Lead rogered the transmission, but thirty seconds later YZ-76 radioed that he had lost his engine and was ditching in the water off Chu Lai, approximately one-half mile south of Ky Ha. Lead lifted out of the Admin Pad and arrived over the downed aircraft. YZ-76 had hit the water at the surf line and came to rest inverted. The aircraft was breaking up very rapidly due to due to heavy storm swept seas and surf. There were no survivors to be found on the surface. HMM-363 SAR aircraft YZ-77 arrived over the scene minutes later and assumed command of rescue operations. YZ-76 went down with a crew of four and six Marine troops on board. All of the bodies were recovered and cause of death for all was assumed to be drowning. The ten men who died in this incident were HMM-363 aircrewmen 1LT Robert Peter Schena (pilot), Haverhill, MA 1LT Gary Don Shields (copilot), Mattoon, IL CPL Ernest Howard Wilson, Corinth, Kentucky LCPL Patrick Lee Wood, Riverside, California C Company, 1st Shore Party Battalion LCPL Timothy Dale Berry, Massillon, Ohio LCPL William Francis Coyne, Massillon, Ohio LCPL Richard Ellsworth Fuchs, Massillon, Ohio PFC Francis Lee Langley, Waverly, Alambama LCPL Alan Randal Moore, Beaver, West Virginia PFC Sandy Lee Ross, Macon, Georgia

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