Mayberry Walter

American college football player, and later a U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot, he was nicknamed "Tiger." Mayberry was a casualty of World War II; dying in a Japanese prisoner of war camp after his plane was shot down. Mayberry was a prominent running back for the University of Floridas Florida Gators football team from 1934 to 1937. A triple-threat player, he also passed and punted. When punting he excelled at placing balls in the "coffin corner." As was typical in the 1930s, he played both offense and defense, posting multiple school records for interceptions. Mayberry was selected as a sixth round pick of the 1938 NFL Draft, but never played in the NFL. He was the first Gator drafted into the league. In 1942, during World War II, Mayberry served with Marine fighter squadron VMF-123, flying F4U Corsair fighter aircraft, and was credited with shooting down three Japanese planes in battle over Vella Lavella Island; some sources also say it was four, with a fifth as probable. Mayberry last radioed as he piloted his aircraft over a stretch of water between two Solomon islands, and was shot down near Bougainville Island on 30 August 1942. He was subsequently captured by Japanese forces, and died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp at Rabaul in New Britain of Papua New Guinea some time after 6 September 1943. Japanese records indicate that he died in an Allied air raid on 5 March 1944, but other records suggest he was executed by the Japanese at an earlier date. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less