Marshall Sneed was born in Piggott, Arkansas on July 22, 1915. He attended Piggott High School where he captained the baseball, basketball, football, and track teams. After graduating, he entered the University of Missouri where he played football and baseball. He dropped football, but continued with baseball. He received a BA in Agriculture in 1940.
He signed a contract to play for the St. Louis Browns and entered their minor league farm system. He first played at Topeka, Kansas and then at Paragould, Arkansas.
However, he entered military service on February 8, 1941, and was accepted by the Aviation Cadet program. He received primary and advanced fight training, and graduated as part of Class 41-G at Goodfellow Army Air Field in Texas. He was awarded pilot's wings and commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant.
His first assignment was to Windsor Locks Army Air Field in Connecticut where he received specialized training on flying the P-40 aircraft. In July of 1942, he was deployed overseas with the 65th Fighter Group. This unit's aircraft were loaded aboard the USS Ranger (aircraft carrier) and taken to near the North African coast. Each pilot then took off from the carrier, with no incidents or losses. They flew to the captured Vichy French airfield Cazas, near Casablanca, from where they were reassigned. A portion went to Bay of Gabes, Tunisia.
From there, the 65th Fighter Squadron flew missions of ground support against units of the Africa Korps under Rommel. On February 22, 1943, Captain Sneed was on such a mission when his aircraft was shot down and crashed.
He is buried in the North African Cemetery located in Carthage, Tunisia. A remembrance headstone stands in the family plot of the Piggott, Arkansas, cemetery, next to his parents...

Photo courtesy of Frederic Blais
Tablets of the Missing