We read, write, and talk about it all the time. The fact that you are frequenting this hallowed site means you have the gun gene. We are all into firearms to one degree or another. For some, it is a pastime. Others of us are fortunate enough to transform our gun addiction into a profession of sorts. Still, a few more are so consumed they can think of little else. However, the common denominator for the vast majority of us is that it is essentially make-believe. We practice in the sincere hope that we may someday expire of old age, never having had to unlimber a firearm for real. And then there was FBI Special Agent Walter Walsh.
Origin Story
Walter Walsh was born in West Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1907 to Dolinda and Walter Brooks Walsh. Walter’s dad was a firefighter and saloon owner. Young Walter lied about his age to join the Civilian Military Training Corps at age 16. The CMTC was kind of like ROTC Light. It ran for 19 years, starting in 1921, and offered military training in the summers for young men who did not incur any service obligation. For its era, the CMTC was an alternative track to obtain a military commission. Walsh later joined the New Jersey Army National Guard. Along the way, he made time to attend Rutgers Law School.
Upon graduation, Walter Walsh sought out the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 1934, he was in the first FBI class to carry firearms. Before that time, there was a stigma about federal agents packing heat. The bloodthirsty gangsters of the era put paid to that right sharpish. Nowadays, the Feds are armed to their earlobes.
Special Agent Walsh and the Gangster Wars
Federal Law Enforcement represented a growth industry in the 1930s. On 27 November 1934, Baby Face Nelson killed a pair of FBI agents during a shootout in Barrington, Illinois. He caught a charge of buckshot to the legs and a single .45ACP bullet from a Thompson submachine gun to the belly in the process. The Barrington shootout was one of the most infamous gun battles of the gangster era. It occurs to me that we have not properly investigated that event in this venue. I will make myself a note to remedy that. Nelson fled the scene and succumbed in short order in the company of his devoted wife, Helen.
The world knew about the shootout, but nobody knew what sort of state Nelson was in. The FBI continued their search for the homicidal fugitive until a tipster directed them to a ditch in Skokie, Illinois. It was there that Walter Walsh discovered the notorious gangster’s cooling corpse.
Once Dillinger, Van Meter, and Nelson had been dispatched to their eternal reward, Ma Barker’s gang percolated to the top of the FBI’s list of professional villains. Special Agent Walsh tracked Arthur Barker to his Chicago apartment in 1935. A subsequent search led Walsh and Company to one Russell “Slim Gray” Gibson, a bank robber of some renown. When Walsh and his mates hit Gibson’s apartment, things went all pear-shaped.
For starters, they tear-gassed the wrong apartment. Responding local law enforcement officers also came within a whisker of firing on the plainclothes FBI team. Amidst the chaos, Gibson, a veteran of numerous armed bank robberies, donned a bulletproof vest, snatched up a Browning Automatic Rifle along with a .32-caliber automatic pistol, and attempted to beat feet. As soon as he cleared his apartment, however, he ran straight into Walter Walsh. Walsh cut him down with an M1907 Winchester .351 rifle.
War Comes to Maine
Two years later, Walsh and his team were on the trail of Al Brady. Brady was Public Enemy Number 1 at the time for killing three cops, along with a civilian or two. The FBI was alerted to the presence of the Brady gang by an astute gun shop owner.
Before 1934, there were no gun laws in America. Folks were accustomed to walking out of hardware stores with weapons–including machine guns–cash and carry. Brady and his merry mob of monsters strolled into Dakin’s Sporting Goods Store in Bangor, Maine, on 21 September 1937, inquiring after guns and ammunition. They were specifically seeking 500 rounds of .30-caliber ammo and a handful of Thompson submachine guns. One member of the gang produced a massive roll of money to attest to his sincerity.
Everett Hurd – Shop Owner
Everett Hurd, the shop owner, said he could get the goods for them but that it would take a few days. The criminals set a date some three weeks later to return for the weapons and gear. As soon as they were gone, Hurd contacted the police. When the gang came back on 12 October for the pickup, Walsh and his buddies were waiting for them.
One gangster named James Dalhover entered the store, leaving Clarence Shaffer and Al Brady in the getaway car. Walsh apprehended Dalhover without incident. That’s when his two compatriots armed themselves and made for the store in support. There erupted a most ferocious gun battle.
Sensing that things were about to get real, Agent Walsh dual-wielded a pair of handguns and moved toward the front of the store. He got to the glass door just as his criminal counterpart, Clarence Shaffer, approached from the outside. Both men opened fire at the same time.
Walsh took a round through his right hand and another to the chest, but remained in the fight. Shaffer died where he stood. Despite his grievous wounds, the indomitable young G-man stepped through the shattered glass door and threw down on Brady with the gun remaining in his left hand. Brady similarly perished in a hail of gunfire. Walsh eventually recovered and returned to active service.
The FBI Agent Goes to War
In 1938, Walter Walsh joined the Marine Reserves and was given a commission as a Lieutenant. He remained in the FBI for four more years until the war overtook him. With the world on fire, LT Walsh took a posting training Marine snipers at New River, North Carolina. However, a training post is not what he had in mind. In 1944, Walsh requested combat duty. For his sins, he was assigned to the 1st Marine Division and fell in with the combat jarheads just in time for the landings in Okinawa.
The fight for Okinawa was horrible beyond all measure. Codenamed Operation Iceberg, the battle for Okinawa was a critical stepping stone toward Operation Downfall, the Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands. The Japanese knew this, and they threw everything they had into Okinawa’s defense. The battle lasted 11 weeks and cost some 106,000 total dead on both sides.
At one point, Walsh and his mates were pinned down by a Japanese sniper. This one enemy sharpshooter was holding up the entire advance. In response, Walsh stood up and killed the Japanese rifleman at a range of 90 yards with a single shot from his .45-caliber M1911A1 pistol. Lots of us talk about being awesome with a handgun. Walter Walsh did something about it.
What Does the Warrior Do Once the War is Done?
Walsh returned from combat duty to the peacetime Marines. After a brief stint, he hung up his uniform and went back to the Bureau. Realizing his usefulness to the FBI was coming to an end, he put in his papers and rejoined the Marine Corps yet again. During his time as a G-man, Walter Walsh killed somewhere between 11 and 17 violent criminals.
Walsh eventually served as Assistant G3 for the 2d Marine Division as well as Battalion Commander for 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. Colonel Walsh retired after a legendary career in 1970. Once he left the Marine Corps, Walsh dedicated himself to competitive shooting.
Shooters Shoot
Walter Walsh got his first taste of riflery behind a Mossberg .22 rifle his father gifted him at age 12. He did his part keeping the local rat population in check in rural New Jersey. He also drove his aunt to distraction by shooting the clothespins off her clothesline. Walsh shot in his first Camp Perry match in 1928.
Some people are just born marksmen. I have met a few folks like this, both in uniform and otherwise. One of the Warrant Officer pilots I served with could print groups with a Beretta M9 pistol fired offhand that were better than I thought the gun itself was capable. A buddy hereabouts dropped a bull elk at 860 yards with a single shot from a .300 Win Mag rifle he built himself, fired off of a pair of shooting sticks. I am in awe of folks like that. Walter Walsh was cut from that same cloth. He racked up a bewildering array of shooting trophies and awards.
In 1935, as an FBI agent, Walsh was assigned to the Bureau’s pistol team. He was awarded marksmanship trophies from J. Edgar Hoover himself on two separate occasions. Walsh set a world record with a handgun in 1939 and shot for the US Olympic team in 1948. To keep himself occupied in retirement, Colonel Walsh got deeply involved in black powder shooting, serving as both a competitor and a coach. He held leadership positions with the NRA back before Wayne LaPierre’s disastrous reign of terror.
READ MORE HERE: The 2012 Empire State Building Shooting: Cop Carnage
Denouement
So, what does a superhuman natural shooter do after he has served his country with distinction, won a boatload of shooting awards, competed in the Olympics, and rid the world of a dozen or more hardened criminals? In the case of Walter Walsh, he just adamantly refused to die. Walsh served as a coach for the US Olympic shooting team until 2000, shooting competitively without the aid of glasses at age 92. I, legit, cannot imagine.
At the 100th anniversary of the FBI, Walsh noted that he was older than the institution itself. He was the longest living FBI agent as well as the longest living US Olympic competitor. While all that is fairly amazing, the man was also married to his wife for 67 years. Together, they had five kids and seventeen grandchildren. Tragically, one of Walsh’s grandkids, SGT Nicholas Walsh, was killed by sniper fire while serving as a Marine recon team leader in Fallujah in 2007. Walter Walsh, FBI agent, combat Marine, professional gunman, husband, father, and certified American manly man, passed away at his home in 2014 at age 106. He rests today alongside his bride in section 8, grave 7198 at Arlington National Cemetery, a legendary American hero forever in the company of legendary American heroes.
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