ROBERT R. SENNETT, ADRCS, USN

May 2, 1939 - January 22, 1966

By Lucy Sennett

He was my beloved husband, my best friend, my soul mate, and a terrific Dad to his children.

Bob and I were both in the Navy.  We met while we were stationed at Naval Air Station, Sandpoint, Seattle.  Bob was USNR-R and I was in the WAVES.

Bob was born In Watertown, N.Y.  His father was a Major in the Army and his maternal grandfather was a Colonel in the Army.  Bob grew up in Detroit, MI.  His parents separated and he and his Mom lived with the Sennett Grandparents.  While in high school, he was on the Olympic swim team.  He and his Mom moved to Long Beach, CA when he was 15.  He joined the Navy just before he turned 18 and served in a Fighter squadron at NAS Whidbey Island as a jet plane mechanic.  His squadron did a WestPac (West Pacific) aboard the USS Ranger and while aboard the Ranger, he went TAD (Temporarily Assigned Duty) to ship‘s company and unfortunately spent his time working in the galley.  It was not a good experience on the Ranger so when his enlistment was up, he got out.

He was out of the Navy, for about 90 days, when he re-enlisted in the Reserves on active duty.  Bob got stationed at NAS Sandpoint in Seattle and that is when I came into the picture.  Bob loved racing cars and he especially loved flying.  His big dream was to be a pilot.  We were married 6 months after we met.  Our daughter was born in Seattle in 1961.  Bob was expecting orders for school in Memphis and I was expecting our second child, so I went to stay with my parents in Massachusetts.  Our son was born in Holyoke, MA in 1962.  Bob came to MA in early 1963 to pick us up when he got orders for advance schooling in Memphis.  Memphis was quite an experience for all of us.  After finishing school in Memphis, Bob got orders in June 1963, for more training with VS-41 at NAS North Island in San Diego, with continuation on to VS-35 right next door.  The squadron was already at sea aboard the USS Hornet, CVS-12.  So the Monday after Thanksgiving, Bob had to ship out to catch up with the squadron.  It was a horrendous time, because President John F. Kennedy had just been assassinated.  It was a lonely and scary time for all of us.

Our first Christmas after we were married, Bob had the duty.  The year our son was born, Bob was in Seattle and I was in Massachusetts.  In 1963, Bob was on board the Hornet for Christmas.  We missed so many Christmases together.  It was tough being both Mom and Dad while Bob was away.  When he came home, he said we would have 18 whole months together as a family, before the squadron would have to leave again.  It was a wondrous time for our family.  We had a wonderful Christmas together.  The kids were thrilled that Daddy was home.  Unbeknownst to us, this would be our one and only Christmas together.  We made the most of those 18 months.  We went everywhere and did everything.  Bob was crazy about his kids, but Nicki was definitely Daddy’s girl.  She had him wrapped around her little finger and Bob loved every minute of it.  Tim worshipped the ground his Daddy walked on.  We always valued whatever time he spent with us, because it always seemed as if he had the duty, and being an air crewman, he always had to get in his flying hours.  Or he would have to go on short missions here or there for extra training.  Bob was one of Lt. Forman’s crew on all those short training missions in and around San Diego.  Those 18 months flew by.  Then Bob had to leave for 10 days of “survival training.”  To say that things in Viet Nam were heating to a boiling point would have been superfluous as our country had been in the thick of things for some time.

This survival training was hard on Bob…on all of us…because we knew that soon the squadron was going to be heading for Viet Nam, but Bob was really “up” for it.  I told him I wished he didn’t have to go and he told me that wearing his Navy uniform meant a great deal to him, and they were not just “work clothes” to him.  He was so proud.  I swear when he put on his dress uniform, you could practically see an image of the U.S. flag waving in his eyes.  He was more patriotic than I knew…but I found out that day, just how proud he was, to want to go and fight for his country and his family, to keep our freedoms.  He was very vocal about it.

Finally, Bob came home one day to announce that the squadron would be leaving in August on a WestPac and deployment off the coast of Viet Nam.  We got a babysitter that night and went out on a “date.”  We had a very serious discussion about what I should do, if he were not to make it back.  It was then that he told me; he did not believe he would live to see age 29.  Bob was 26 years old.  A cold chill crept up my spine and tears slipped down my cheeks.  I wanted us to run away where the government couldn’t find us.  I wanted to keep him safe.  I was scared.

On the day the USS Hornet was to leave, August 13, 1965, Nicki and Tim and I drove Bob to the ship.  We kissed and hugged and cried, all of us.  When the Hornet pulled away from the dock, my heart was breaking and I was hugging my kids to my chest and crying.  It hurt so very much….

I wrote to Bob every single night and kept him aware of all the daily goings-on with the kids and myself.  I was working full-time for the Navy then.  We were counting the days when Daddy would be coming home.  Christmas was rough.  I tried to call Bob in Japan when the ship was in port but there were too many calls stacked up ahead of mine and I never got through.

Then came that horrendous day.  January 22, 1966.  My whole world came tumbling down and no one could put it back together again.  When they told me that the men were listed as Missing in Action, I just knew that if Bob weren’t killed outright, he would be coming back to us.  I “felt” that he was still alive…somewhere. I never “felt” him leave me.

It was hard explaining to a 3 and 4 year old why Daddy wasn’t coming home…not yet.  We waited and waited and waited. I would tell the kids stories all about their Daddy.  Where he was born, how he and his Mom lived with Great Grandpa and Grandma when he was growing up.  How Daddy had many uncles and aunts and many, many cousins.  My mother-in-law sent us all the pictures of Bob she could find when he was an infant and then a toddler and a teenager, so that the kids could see how their Daddy looked growing up.

Over the years, Bob’s children got to know him as well as I knew him because I tried to keep him “alive” for them…so they would know him, when he came home, and would not be a total stranger to them.  I answered all of their questions and held nothing back.  If they did not have their Dad’s presence, they did have his “essence” as I felt it was very important to have something of him in their lives.

I never remarried.  I made a vow to Bob on our wedding day, that I would always be here for him, no matter what. I could not break that vow because it meant so very much to him.

Our children are grown now and have lives of their own.  Our son Tim has a daughter of his own, Ashley, 17.  Though she never had the privilege of knowing her grandfather in person, she does know all about him.  We have given her that gift. We still speak of Bob, his name pops up in our conversations almost always, and we, all of us, love him and miss him every day of our lives.

We have never forgotten and will never forget the price he paid for our freedoms.  We love you Bob and miss you.  One day when our time on this earth is over, we will be together again…I am sure of it.