Quantico street renamed for 106-year-old veteran

QUANTICO — Marine Corps Base Road is renamed in honor of distinguished Marine and FBI agent.

Officials at Quantico Marine Corps Base renamed a street leading to its weapons training facility on the base. The formerly and simply named “27200 Road” has been renamed in honor of Colonel Walter R. Walsh, a former agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and served in the Marines from the start of the U.S. entry into World War II, most notable as a shooting instructor, until his retirement in the 1970s.

Walsh was born May 4, 1907, in West Hoboken, New Jersey (West Hoboken merged with Union Hill to become Union City in 1925). Walsh began to demonstrate prowess with guns at age 12 and received formal training in marksmanship as a member of the Civilian Military Training Corps at 16. He joined the New Jersey National Guard in 1928 where he earned a spot on their shooting team.

Walsh graduated from Rutgers School of Law in 1934 and was recruited into the FBI as a field agent and instructor. Notable moments in his career as an agent include ending the crime spree of Arthur “Doc” Barker, a member of the infamous Barker-Karpis gang. Walsh also ended the crime spree of the Brady Gang, where he sustained injuries during a gunfight in Bangor, Maine.

During that time, Walsh regularly competed in National Shooting Tournaments and broke a world record for centerfire pistol shooting in 1939.

Walsh joined the Marines in 1942 when the U.S. entered World War II, where he spent his first two years as a lieutenant training snipers. He would eventually become commander of what would become the Weapons Training Battalion from its inception in 1962 until his retirement in 1970.

Walsh entered combat in 1945 when he participated in the invasion of Okinawa. Walsh continued to gain renown in shooting tournaments, earning a place as a member of the U.S. Olympic Shooting Team at the 1948 Summer Games in London where he placed 12th place in the world men’s free-pistol competition. He continued to compete in shooting competitions long past his retirement from the Marines, serving as captain of the U.S. team at the World Muzzleloading Championships in Switzerland in 1994.

Walsh died in his home in April 2014 at age 106.

“We would be hard-pressed to find any Marine more appropriate to have his name applied to this gateway into and thoroughfare across Weapons Training Battalion,” said Commanding Officer of Weapons Training Battalion at Quantico Lt. Colonel Howard Hall, during a speech at the dedication on the street’s renaming.