Quentin Walsh
Coast Guard Captain Quentin R. Walsh was one of the service's most famous combat veterans whose World War II combat exploits included one action that resulted in his receiving the Navy Cross, the nation's second highest award for valor in combat.
Early life and early Coast Guard career
Walsh was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on February 2, 1910, and graduated in 1933 from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. His first assignments were aboard the Coast Guard cutters that captured "rum runners" between Cuba and Nova Scotia during prohibition. In September 1934, Walsh transferred to Coast Guard Cutter Yamacraw, based in Savannah, Georgia. As boarding officer, he played an important role in the capture of the notorious rumrunner Pronto in January 1936. In the late 1930s, he spent a year as an observer on a whaling factory ship cruising 30,000 miles from Sweden to Australia, the Indian Ocean and Antarctica and at one point, the crew spent 132 straight days without seeing land. During his tour as an inspector, the Ulysses crew had killed 3,665 whales. Walsh's firsthand knowledge of whaling practices heavily influenced the formulation of U.S. whaling policy against commercial whaling.In October 1939, Walsh transferred to the 327-foot cutter Campbell and served as navigator and gunnery officer while the cutter convoyed merchantmen across the North Atlantic as part of the American Neutrality Patrols. During Walsh's assignment, Campbell also served on the Lisbon station to protect U.S. citizens in Portugal, threatened at the time by the spread of war in Europe.
In November 1941, just before the entry of the United States into World War II, Walsh received yet another assignment as navigator. This time he served on board the famous Coast Guard-manned troop transport Joseph T. Dickman, ferrying British troops from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Bombay, India. The ship also supported amphibious training with U.S. Marines on the North Carolina coast and landed troops at Cuba, Puerto Rico and Bermuda.
World War II
Next, Walsh received orders to the staff of Commander U.S. Naval Forces in Europe, located in London. As a member of the Naval Forces staff, Walsh gained full knowledge of Phase Neptune, the amphibious operation associated with Operation Overlord, the allied invasion of Europe. This landing would prove the largest amphibious operation in world history and Walsh had to formulate plans to restore operations in liberated French ports to expedite resupply of allied armies by ship.The D-Day invasion took place on Tuesday, June 6, 1944. Walsh and his men landed on Saturday, at Utah Beach and advanced westward toward the port of Cherbourg. Walsh's mission was to secure the harbor and prepare the port facilities to receive shipments of troops and supplies as soon possible. When Walsh's unit entered the city on Monday, June 26, as part of the U.S. Army's 79th Infantry Division, he came under fire from machine gun nests still defending German positions and his unit uncovered stubborn pockets of enemy resistance.
By Tuesday, June 27, Walsh's men had fought their way through to Cherbourg's harbor. During this assault, Walsh moved his men quickly to occupy strategic parts of the port and take control the harbor. During the assault, the men in his unit experienced a 25 percent casualty rate. By the end of the day, Walsh's unit had advanced to the city's old naval arsenal, where he accepted the surrender of 400 German troops.
After capturing Cherbourg's port facilities, Walsh learned that the Germans held American paratroopers in the city's old citadel at Fort du Homet. In the highlight of the Cherbourg operation, Walsh and one of his officers put themselves in harm's way to save the lives of the Americans. The two officers entered the fort under a flag of truce and met with the commanding officer of the German garrison. By greatly exaggerating the numeric strength of his small force of Sea Bees, Walsh convinced the commanding officer to surrender the stronghold. With the surrender of Fort du Homet, Walsh and his men disarmed another 350 German troops and liberated over 50 American prisoners.
With Cherbourg secured, Walsh began preparing the port for operations. He established a naval operations center, surveyed the harbor and collected vital intelligence from German prisoners, French partisans and slave laborers who worked around the port. With this information, Walsh mapped underwater obstructions, navigable channels and minefields in the harbor and its approaches. He sent this information to allied minesweepers using shallow-draft wooden sailing vessels.
Within a few short days of entering Cherbourg, Walsh's 50 men had taken 750 German troops, liberated over 50 American prisoners, captured Cherbourg's port and helped clear the harbor of enemy mines and obstructions. By Walsh's third day in Cherbourg, the Navy decommissioned his unit and designated him as Cherbourg's assistant port director. His unit had not only secured Cherbourg and saved American lives, it sped thousands of troops and millions of tons of ammunition, equipment and war material to the front lines.
After Le Havre, Walsh contracted a severe case of viral pneumonia. He was hospitalized in London then he returned to the U.S. During the next year, he helped oversee the permanent transfer of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation from the Commerce Department into the Coast Guard. Meantime, Walsh's health problems persisted and, in 1946, the service placed him on the retired list due to physical disability.
With the onset of the Korean War, he returned to active duty in 1951. He served as liaison officer between the Coast Guard and Treasury Department and later served as aide to the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury overseeing Coast Guard affairs. Walsh finally retired as a captain in 1960.
Walsh passed away in May 2000. His career had spanned some of the most eventful years in Coast Guard history, including Prohibition, World War II and the post-war modernization of the service. Walsh was a member of the long blue line and played an important role in the service's missions of law enforcement, fisheries management, combat operations, port security, and organizational change.
Navy Cross
Citation:The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Commander Quentin R. Walsh, United States Coast Guard, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commanding Officer of a specially trained U.S. Naval Reconnaissance Party assigned the mission of reconnoitering the Naval Facilities and Arsenal at Cherbourg, France, on 26 and 27 June 1944. A gallant and aggressive leader, Commander Walsh courageously engaged in active street fighting with the enemy as he led his party in the skillful penetration of the eastern half of the city and, while advancing through scattered pockets of resistance and extremely hazardous areas which were still subjected to hostile fire, accepted the surrender of approximately four hundred enemy forces at the Naval Arsenal and disarmed them. Subsequently receiving the unconditional surrender of three hundred and fifty other officers and men, he released fifty-two United States Army Paratroopers who were prisoners in the fort. Commander Walsh's brilliant initiative, inspiring leadership and successful accomplishment of a difficult mission reflect great credit upon himself, his command and the United States Naval Service.
Awards
Commendation MedalCombat Action Ribbon
American Defense Service Medal
European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
National Defense Service Medal
Sea Service Ribbon
Overseas Service Ribbon