Post by goomba on Nov 9, 2010 16:50:36 GMT -5
The Amazing Life of Walter R. Walsh
As a record-setting shooter, Marine officer, FBI agent and Olympic competitor, Walsh has led an interesting and amazing life.
By Bill Vanderpool
10/21/10
”The late Bill Jordan and I used to catch up at the SHOT Show. We would stand in the aisle, right where we happened to meet, and talk (rather loudly, I recall) about the past year’s events. I remember one year, well more than a decade ago, when Bill was in the middle of some hunting story when he stopped talking and abruptly changed the subject. “You know, Bill, folks have sometimes called me a hero just because I wrote a book and some magazine articles and arrested a few folks who needed it. But do you know who my hero is?” I replied, “Who’s that, Bill?” He smiled and nodded over my shoulder and said, “That short, mean S.O.B. coming up behind you.” I turned around to greet Col. Walter R. Walsh.
At Walsh’s 100th birthday party, his family served three cakes: One had the seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the second, the seal of the United States Marine Corps; and the third bore five Olympic rings. Each represented a major achievement in Walsh’s life, and each could make a major story. For one man to be presented all three indicates just how special that person is.
Walsh, born in New Jersey in 1907, had an early appreciation for firearms, and he enjoyed shooting a neighbor boy’s smoothbore .22 at rats in the city dump where the Meadowlands is now. His father gave him his first rifle, a .22-cal. Mossberg, when he was about 12. He was serious enough about marksmanship by then that the rifle was shortly traded for a Remington Model 12. His first match rifle, acquired later, was a Winchester Model 52. The rest, as they say, is history.
Lying about his age (which was then 16), Walsh joined the Civilian Military Training Corps (CMTC) and received his first formal marksmanship training with a 1903 Springfield. In 1928 he joined the New Jersey National Guard, made its rifle team and attended the National Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio, that same year. Two years later, he shot in the Sea Girt Interstate Tournament and won both the rifle and pistol championships as well as the Governor’s Trophy for shooting the 1,200 yd. long-range service rifle championship with a perfect score, using iron sights. In 1932, Walsh won the Smallbore Wimbledon and American Legion Championships. A May 1932, American Rifleman advertisement for Western Cartridge Co. shows a very young-looking Walsh after winning the Leech Cup Match. In 1935 he became Double Distinguished. His achievements in both rifle and pistol shooting were to continue for more than six decades.
www.americanrifleman.org/articles/walter-walsh/
As a record-setting shooter, Marine officer, FBI agent and Olympic competitor, Walsh has led an interesting and amazing life.
By Bill Vanderpool
10/21/10
”The late Bill Jordan and I used to catch up at the SHOT Show. We would stand in the aisle, right where we happened to meet, and talk (rather loudly, I recall) about the past year’s events. I remember one year, well more than a decade ago, when Bill was in the middle of some hunting story when he stopped talking and abruptly changed the subject. “You know, Bill, folks have sometimes called me a hero just because I wrote a book and some magazine articles and arrested a few folks who needed it. But do you know who my hero is?” I replied, “Who’s that, Bill?” He smiled and nodded over my shoulder and said, “That short, mean S.O.B. coming up behind you.” I turned around to greet Col. Walter R. Walsh.
At Walsh’s 100th birthday party, his family served three cakes: One had the seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the second, the seal of the United States Marine Corps; and the third bore five Olympic rings. Each represented a major achievement in Walsh’s life, and each could make a major story. For one man to be presented all three indicates just how special that person is.
Walsh, born in New Jersey in 1907, had an early appreciation for firearms, and he enjoyed shooting a neighbor boy’s smoothbore .22 at rats in the city dump where the Meadowlands is now. His father gave him his first rifle, a .22-cal. Mossberg, when he was about 12. He was serious enough about marksmanship by then that the rifle was shortly traded for a Remington Model 12. His first match rifle, acquired later, was a Winchester Model 52. The rest, as they say, is history.
Lying about his age (which was then 16), Walsh joined the Civilian Military Training Corps (CMTC) and received his first formal marksmanship training with a 1903 Springfield. In 1928 he joined the New Jersey National Guard, made its rifle team and attended the National Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio, that same year. Two years later, he shot in the Sea Girt Interstate Tournament and won both the rifle and pistol championships as well as the Governor’s Trophy for shooting the 1,200 yd. long-range service rifle championship with a perfect score, using iron sights. In 1932, Walsh won the Smallbore Wimbledon and American Legion Championships. A May 1932, American Rifleman advertisement for Western Cartridge Co. shows a very young-looking Walsh after winning the Leech Cup Match. In 1935 he became Double Distinguished. His achievements in both rifle and pistol shooting were to continue for more than six decades.
www.americanrifleman.org/articles/walter-walsh/