Melvin Schueneman
Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Forces

Melvin Schueneman was born on 14 September 1919 in Saint Clair, MI, the son of Charles and Mary Schueneman. His mother died on 31 January 1921 and his father died on 3 May 1921, so Melvin lived with his grandmother Schueneman until he was 16, then he went to live with his aunt, Louise Burman.

He married Vallery Sharrow on 28 December 1940.

Schueneman entered the U.S. Army Air Forces in May 1942, and went overseas in December 1943 where he served with the 363rd Fighter Squadron, 357th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force, based at RAF Leiston, England. There, he was a member of the 3-man ground crew of a P-51D-10-NA Mustang, AAF Serial No. 44-14450 B6-S, nicknamed Old Crow (after the whiskey of the same name). The aircraft and its pilot, then-Captain Clarence Emil "Bud' Anderson [Honoree Record ID 308780], both became famous when he became a triple-ace by shooting down 16¼ German Luftwaffe planes. Anderson consistently gave credit to, and praised, his crew, TSgt Otto Heino [Honoree Record ID 308782]; SSgt Melvin Schueneman; and SSgt Leon Zimmerman [Honoree Record ID 308783], for their dedication and care of his plane. The plane they maintained carried him safely through 116 missions without being hit by fire from enemy aircraft and without Anderson ever having to turn back for any reason!

As an example of this dedication and care, in Anderson's book written after the war, To Fly and Fight, he related that one evening he returned from a mission and casually noted to his crew chief, TSgt Otto Heino, "We're going to have to get that paint off some time." (It added a little unnecessary weight to the plane.) The next morning, Old Crow was glistening bare metal. Sgt Heino and the crew had stayed up all night rubbing off the paint with gasoline-soaked rags; their hands had been chafed raw and bloody in the process.

On 27 January 1945, SSgt Schueneman died in the crash of an AT-6 plane while returning from some field maintenance work in France. This information about SSgt Schueneman's death was mentioned in Anderson's book, To Fly and Fight.

Medals and Awards

Bronze Star Medal
Army Good Conduct Medal
American Campaign Medal
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
Army Presidential Unit Citation

Burial

Staff Sergeant Melvin Schueneman is buried at Hillside Cemetery in Saint Clair, St. Clair County, MI.