Donald Frederick Walker (15 August 1912 – 18 June 1941) was an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 cricketer

Cricketer

A cricketer is a person who plays the sport of cricket. Official and long-established cricket publications prefer the traditional word "cricketer" over the rarely used term "cricket player"....

 who played for Hampshire

Hampshire County Cricket Club

Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...

 between 1937-1939. A left-handed batsman and occasional wicketkeeper Walker played 73 first class games for Hampshire. In 1937 during a County Championship match played against Sussex

Sussex County Cricket Club

Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...

, at the United Services Recreation Ground

United Services Recreation Ground

The United Services Recreation Ground is a cricket ground in Portsmouth, Hampshire. The first recorded match on the ground was on 17 August 1882 which saw Cambridge University Past and Present play the touring Australians...

 Walker and Gerry Hill

Gerry Hill

Gerald Hill was an English cricketer who played for Hampshire from 1932–1954. A right-handed batsman and right-arm off break bowler, Hill played 371 first class games for Hampshire. Hill was spotted by the cricketer and writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...

 put on 235 for the 5th wicket, which remains to this day a Hampshire record. A patient batsman, Walker was able to manufacture an innings with great touch. His best season came in 1939, in what was to be his last season. Walker scored 1,117 runs, including three centuries; average 29.39.

Walker was also a strong Rugby

Rugby football

Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

 player, he captained the Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

 County team and also captained a Royal Air Force side.

With the onset of the Second World War Walker joined the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

. While on a bombing raid on 18 June 1941 Walker was shot down and killed 2 km north of Best in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

.