2nd Lt. Alexander G. Mayberry
United States Army Air Corps (1942-1943)

Alexander G. Mayberry was born on February 3, 1918, the son of Alexander T. and Anna M. Mayberry of 1301 Breining Street. He had two sisters, Maude and Florence. The Mayberrys were members of the Episcopal Church of the Advent. A graduate of Brookline Elementary School, Alex was a Boy Scout in a troop based at St. Mark's Church and, although he did not reach the rank of Eagle Scout, he was a member of the Order of the Arrow.

Alexander Mayberry in 1930 at age 12.

Times were tough during the Depression years, and after three years of study at South Hills High School, Alex left during his senior year to take a clerking job at Isaly's on Brookline Boulevard to help make ends meet. He later earned his diploma from Schenley High School.

Alex always dreamed of being a flyer, and when the United States entered World War II he decided to enlist in the U.S. Army. Only college graduates could qualify for pilot training so, before joining, Alex was tutored in math by his friend Malcolm Trimble, a student at Carnegie Tech. Once he passed his college equivalency exam in mid-1942, Alex enlisted and entered the Aviation Air Corps.

After his initial boot camp and flight training at Selman Field in Louisiana, 2nd Lt. Mayberry was assigned to a ten-member B-17 Flying Fortress crew as navigator and dispatched for additional training with the 20th Bombardment Squadron, 2nd Bombardment Group, based in Great Falls, Montana. Alexander turned out to be so good at math that while training he became an instructor for young cadets.

The original crew of "Big Jeff" included Pilot 2nd Lt. Bob Kingsbury, Co-Pilot 2nd Lt. Herbert Schachtschneider, Navigator 2nd Lt. Alexander Mayberry, Bombardier 2nd Lt. W. V. Godek, Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner Sebastian Hernandez, Radio Operator Earl Bjorkland, Assistant Radio/Ball Turret Gunner Bill Groot, Armoroer/Waist Gunner Bob Woods and Assistant Engineer/Waist Gunner John Gibboney, and Tail Gunner Art Panini.

On June 16, 1943, the men received their new B-17 Flying Fortress, #42-30467, and called it "Big Jeff." The aircraft was named after "Little Jeff," the pet dog of Pilot Lt. Kingsbury. "Little Jeff" became the official crew mascot.

As navigator, Lt. Mayberry's responsiblity was to keep the plane on course to its designated location, or on an actual bombing mission, to the Initial Point and then back to base. The navigater had a small compartment located behind the nose of the aircraft. Lt. Mayberry had to stand during much of the mission at a small chart desk.

Overhead was a small plexiglass bubble that the he used to sight his instruments. He used an “Octant” to shoot the sun or the stars during missions. He was also trained to use the E6B computer with the Octant. Actually, the E6B "computer" was a hand held device with calibrations that helped the navigator compute factors such as drift and altitude.

The 2nd Bomb Group began the war flying anti-submarine missions, and in October 1942 was redesignated as a heavy bombardment group and earmarked for overseas combat. The Group left their satellite bases on March 14, 1943 and arrived at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. From there they took off overseas. The first stop on their journey to the war zone was Morrison Field in West Palm Beach. After that it was a layover in Natal, Brazil before heading over the Atlantic Ocean for Marrakesh, Morocco.

They arrived in Navarin, Algeria on April 22. Five days later the group was in Chateau D'un. The 20th Bombardment Squadron, 2nd Bombardment Group flew its first mission as part of the U.S. 12th Air Force on April 28, striking a location on the island of Sardinia.

For the next two weeks, missions were flown against the Axis forces in Tunisia. After the surrender of German Panzer Army Africa on May 13, the Group supported the reduction of Pantelleria and preparations for the Invasion of Sicily from May through July. During this time, in mid-June, their base of operations moved from Chateau D'Un to Ain M'Lila, Algeria.

Lt. Mayberry and the crew of "Big Jeff" arrived at their base in Algeria on July 15. Shortly after arriving, on July 31, the Group moved once again moved to a larger airfield, this time at Massicault, Tunisia.

The crew of the B-17 Flying Fortress "Big Jeff." Lt. Alexander Mayberry is front row second from left.
Lt. Bob Kingsbury is front row far right, with his dog "Little Jeff." Photo taken July 18, 1943.

A V-Mail letter home to his sister Maude describes Alex's first few weeks in Africa:

"I've moved again. Note my change in address. I'm still in North Africa though. I'm living in a tent and sleeping on the ground. Our food is very good but is served in mess kits. The sun is hotter than blazes. I'll be looking like an Arab 'cause I'm wearing shorts and no shirt most of the time. I wash and shave from water in my steel helmet."

"As soon as I make fifty successful missions, they are going to send me back to the States. That ought to take about nine months to a year. I don't mind it here at all. I guess it's because of the novelty. When that wears off it's going to be sorta rough."

It is from the base at Massicault that, on August 19, 1943, Lt. Alexander G. Mayberry and the crew of the Flying Fortress "Big Jeff" took off on their third combat mission. It was Mission #57 for the 2nd Bombardment Group. The target was Transformer Station and Marshalling Yards in the town of Foggia, Italy, a major Axis transportation hub. By this time, the green crew had logged a little over forty-five hours flight time on their B-17.

  
A B-17 Flying Fortress being loaded with bombs and another preparing for takeoff.

On this mission, Co-pilot Lt. Scachtschneider was assigned to fly as co-pilot with another aircraft in the Squadron. Because of this, 1st Lt. Richard E. Rozzelle, a veteran pilot who had just finished his mission quota and was due to rotate back to the States, volunteered to sit in as "Big Jeff" pilot, with Lt. Kingsbury acting as the plane's co-pilot. Other crew changes were 2nd Lt. Carmel Parsons as bombardier and Sgt. John Adams as Assistant Engineer/Waist Gunner.

On this day, enemy fighters swarmed about the bombers like bees both to and from the target area. Over the city the flak was intense. At an altitude of 21,000 feet, the "Big Jeff," part of the first wave of bombers and positioned near the rear of the formation, managed to reach the target area intact and completed its bombing run. Below, the exploding target area in Foggia was rapidly becoming a scene of utter desolation.

On the return trip, the Messerschmitt fighters attacked once more. This time they hit the "Big Jeff" hard. Co-pilot Bob Kingsbury recalled the lumbering 30-ton aircraft being riddled by machine gun fire from several of the ME-109s. One wing was nearly blown off and the plane's #2 and #3 engines were on fire.

One by one the friendly guns in the rear of the plane stopped firing. Kingsbury knew that his five gunners were badly injured or dead. Crippled and falling from the sky, the "Big Jeff" was surrounded by enemy attackers. Pilot Dick Rozzelle gave the order to bail out. The five remaining crew members, including Lt. Alexander Mayberry, bailed out at 19,000 feet over the Tyrrhenian Sea, south of Salerno and ten miles west of Licosa Point.

According to the mission co-pilot, "I knew the bombardier (Parson) couldn't swim. Our navigator (Mayberry) was a good swimmer but hadn't been feeling well. Our engineer (Hernandez) was a big strong guy, but he didn't know celestial navigation and wouldn't know which way to swim at night," Kingsbury recalled. "The pilot (Rozzelle) apparently floated his parachute toward the sea instead of directing it toward land."

Kingsbury called out to his crew members once he hit the water, but got no response. He began to move in the direction of land. It took him thirty-two hours to swim twenty-one miles through shark-infested waters to the Italian shore. There, he was captured and held for twenty-one months as a Prisoner of War. He never saw his crew members again. After the war ended, Kingsbury learned that he was the sole survivor of the B-17 "Big Jeff."

In a touch of bitter irony, 2nd Lt. Herbert Schachtschneider's plane, "Precious," piloted by 2nd Lt. Herbert D. Thomas, and flying in formation on "Big Jeff's" left wing, was also shot down on that mission. Lt. Schachtschneider was one of only two survivors. Like Lt. Kingsbury, he was captured by the Germans and held as prisoner for the rest of the war.

In the end, the air raid over Foggia was a huge success for the 12th Air Force. Damage estimates put the number of casualties at over 20,000 and the city was reduced to rubble. The elimination of the transportation hub aided in the opening phases of the Allied Invasion of Italy. On the other hand, the 20th Bomb Squadron lost four aircraft and their crews. Six other aircraft from other participating groups were also lost, including another sixty airmen. Mission #57 was the third worst for the 20th Bomb Squadron in terms of losses.

The 2nd Bombardment Group, along with the 20th Bombardment Squadron, continued to wage war against the Axis forces. The Group was transfered to the 15th Air Force in December 1943 and, in another touch of irony, was based at Foggia, the town that it had attacked only months before. By war's end, the Group had flown a total of 412 missions, the last over Salzburg, Austria on May 1, 1945.

Back home in the community of Brookline, news of Lt. Alexander G. Mayberry's loss was reported in the Pittsburgh Press on October 9, 1943, when he was listed as Missing in Action. Ten months later, on August 27, the newspaper ran a short obituary when his status was changed to Presumed Dead (Killed in Action), and a Gold Star was hung in the window of his family home at 1301 Breining Street.

Lt. Alexander G. Mayberry's name is honored on the Tablets of the Missing at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial in Nettuno, Città Metropolitana di Roma Capitale, Lazio, Italy. The photo below shows his name along with another East Brookline airman who was lost during the war, Sergeant John Mazza of 2408 Alwyn Street.

* Thanks to Maude McDowell, sister of Alexander Mayberry, for sharing information and photos for this story. *

* Written by Clint Burton: April 11, 2018 *

The Brookline War Memorial

Listed below are many of the sons of Brookline who gave their
lives to preserve freedom and contain aggression during
World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died.
Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.”
General George S. Patton
 

World War I (1917-1919)

The World War I Memorial - Washington D.C.

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

World War II (1941-1945)

The World War II Memorial - Washington D.C.

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

Korean War (1950-1953)

Korean War Memorial - Washington D.C.

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

Vietnam War (1965-1973)

Vietnam War Memorial - Washington D.C.

The Brookline Monument - The Cannon

<Brookline War Memorial> <> <Brookline History>