Schoenig was a helicopter crew chief in Vietnam. Writing home after one battle, he said combat was horrible: "It makes you sick in the stomach, and so mad when they carry back dead GIs." Schoenig, a June 1965 graduate of Olney High School, was drafted into the Army in November of that year. The specialist four, assigned to the 119th Aviation Company, was killed on Nov. 11, 1966 in a helicopter crash during fighting near Pleiku. He died 13 days before he was to celebrate his 21st birthday. Schoenig was survived by his mother and three brothers.