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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Online Library of Selected Images:
-- PEOPLE -- UNITED STATES --
Gunnery Sergeant William G. Walsh, USMCR, (1922-1945)
William Gary Walsh was born on 7 April 1922 in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve from that state in April
1942, received recruit training at Parris Island, South Carolina
and advanced training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Transferred
to the Pacific war zone, he was assigned to a Marine Raider unit
and participated in the Guadalcanal,
Solomon Islands and Gilbert Islands Campaigns of 1942 and 1943.
In 1944 he was assigned to the Fifth Marine Division and promoted
to the rank of Gunnery Sergeant.
In February 1945, as Leader of an Assault Platoon attached
to Company G, Third Battalion, Twenty-seventh Marines, Walsh took
part in the battle for Iwo Jima. On 27 February, he led a successful
uphill assault against a well-located and heavily-manned enemy
stronghold. As his Marines captured the ridge, the Japanese unleashed
a barrage of hand grenades, with one landing in the midst of his
men. Walsh instantly dived on it and was killed, thus saving his
men's lives and allowing them to hold the newly won hill. For
his "extraordinary gallantry and intrepidity at the risk
of his life, " he was posthumously awarded the Medal
of Honor. William G. Walsh is buried at Arlington National
Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.
This page features the only image we have concerning William
G. Walsh.
Click on the small photograph to prompt
a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 103911
Gunnery Sergeant William G. Walsh, USMCR
Halftone reproduction of a photograph, copied from the official publication "Medal of Honor, 1861-1949, The Navy", page 276.
William G. Walsh received the Medal of Honor, posthumously, for "extraordinary gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty" on 27 February 1945, during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 70KB; 620 x 765 pixels |
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Medal of Honor citation of Gunnery Sergeant William G. Walsh,
USMCR (as printed in the official publication "Medal
of Honor, 1861-1949, The Navy", page 276):
"For extraordinary gallantry and intrepidity at the
risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Leader
of an Assault Platoon, attached to Company G, Third Battalion,
Twenty-seventh Marines, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against
enemy Japanese forces at Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on 27 February
1945. With the advance of his company toward Hill 362 disrupted
by vicious machine-gun fire from a forward position which guarded
the approaches to this key enemy stronghold, Gunnery Sergeant
Walsh fearlessly charged at the head of his platoon against the
Japanese entrenched on the ridge above him, utterly oblivious
to the unrelenting fury of hostile automatic weapons fire and
hand grenades employed with fanatic desperation to smash his
daring assault. Thrown back by the enemy's savage resistence,
he once again led his men in a seemingly impossible attack up
the steep, rocky slope, boldly defiant of the annihilating streams
of bullets which saturated the area. Despite his own casualty
losses and the overwhelming advantage held by the Japanese in
superior numbers and dominant position, he gained the ridge's
top only to be subjected to an intense barrage of hand grenades
thrown by the remaining Japanese staging a suicidal last stand
on the reverse slope. When one of the grenades fell in the midst
of his surviving men, huddled together in a small trench, Gunnery
Sergeant Walsh, in a final valiant act of complete self-sacrifice,
instantly threw himself upon the deadly bomb, absorbing with
his own body the full and terrific force of the explosion. Through
his extraordinary initiative and inspiring valor in the face
of almost certain death, he saved his comrades from injury and
possible loss of life and enabled his company to seize and hold
this vital enemy position. He gallantly gave his life for his
country." |
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Page made 19 July 2006