Colonel Walker Melville "Bud" Mahurin (December 5, 1918 – May 11, 2010) was a United States Air Force officer and aviator.

[1] He was the only United States Air Force pilot to shoot down enemy planes in both the European and Pacific Theaters and the Korean War.

[1] Born in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Mahurin joined the United States Army Air Forces as an aviation cadet on September 29, 1941, after several years as an engineering student at Purdue University.

He was caught in the B-24's prop wash and sucked under its wing, and when he tried to pull away, the tail and fuselage of his airplane was shredded by one of the B-24's propellers, forcing him to bail out.

Glen Schiltz[4][5]) by shooting down a pair of German Focke-Wulf Fw 190s while escorting B-17 bombers as part of the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission.

He eventually went on to score 19.75 confirmed victories in combat in Europe, with three more enemy planes probably destroyed, and one damaged, before being shot down himself.

[8] In October, he again shipped overseas as commander of the 3rd Fighter Squadron, the combat element of the composite 3rd Air Commando Group in the Philippines.

[9] On May 13, 1952, while strafing a truck, his F-86 was shot down by North Korean ground fire and after crash-landing and breaking his arm, he was captured by enemy forces.

During his time as a prisoner of war, he was confined to a small cell, fed only enough water and food to keep him alive, and subjected to brainwashing.

He was forced to endure sub-freezing conditions with minimal clothing, interrogations sometimes lasting all night, and being deprived of sleep and threatened with execution if he did not answer questions.

[9] The interrogators finally gave up, to be replaced by a well-educated Chinese officer who spoke fluent English, brought Mahurin books, arranged for better food, and generally improved his conditions.

[9] While the Air Force attributed this to his own choice, stating he was low on the promotion list to colonel and unlikely to make general, a pilot under his command in Korea, Robert Smith, asserts that the Air Force dishonored itself by pressuring Mahurin to resign from the service as a result of political infighting over the confessions, four years short of becoming eligible for retirement benefits.

[10] Mahurin died of "complications from a stroke"[1] at his home in Newport Beach, California, on May 11, 2010, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

[1] Command pilot Philippine Liberation Medal Philippine Independence Medal Armed Forces Reserve Medal with silver hourglass device Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Croix de Guerre with Palm (France) Croix de Guerre, with Palm (Belgium) Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation United Nations Service Medal Korean War Service Medal The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished SERVICE Cross to Captain (Air Corps) Walker M. Mahurin, United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as Pilot of a P-47 Fighter Airplane in the 63d Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group, EIGHTH Air Force, over enemy occupied continental Europe on 4 October 1943, while serving as flight leader on a mission escorting withdrawing bombers.

The heroism displayed by Captain Mahurin on this occasion reflects the highest credit upon himself and the armed forces of the United States.