|
Capt.
Quentin Walsh experienced one of the most colorful careers in the
history of the U.S. Coast Guard.
Walsh grew up across the
Thames River from the Coast Guard Academy in New London. Aggressive
by nature, Walsh established himself as a leader while attending the
Academy. His tenacity would serve him well as a Coast Guard officer
in wartime and peace.
After graduation he experienced the
rigors of Prohibition enforcement during the height of the Rum War.
Beginning in May 1933, he served on the former Navy “four-stacker”
destroyer Herndon, which the Coast Guard used for offshore patrols
between the Gulf of Maine and Cape Hatteras.
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.
|
U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Quentin R. Walsh (left) in his dress blues
bearing his recently awarded Navy Cross Medal and his men (right) at work preparing
captured Cherbourg in Germany for operations during World War II.
These men are likely U.S. Navy Sea Bee personnel, who specialized in
heavy machinery operation and construction work. (Image created by USA
Patriotism! from U.S. Coast Guard photos)
|
In 1937, Walsh was assigned as a Coast Guard inspector in charge
of enforcing whaling treaty regulations on the whale factory ship
Ulysses. By April 1938, the Ulysses had steamed 30,000 miles,
including the waters of Antarctica and the Indian Ocean 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 Dickman also
supported amphibious training with U.S. Marines on the North
Carolina coast and landed troops at Cuba, Puerto Rico and Bermuda.
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.
In addition to planning post D-Day port operations,
Walsh received orders to form a unit to carry out his plans. Walsh's
extensive naval background and leadership ability served him well as
he formed Navy Task Unit 127.2.8 out of 50 Navy Sea Bees, men from
the Navy's Construction Battalion units. Sea Bee personnel were the
best possible choice for Walsh's mission, because they came equipped
with combat training in addition to their expertise in construction,
engineering and heavy machinery operation. Walsh's task unit would
serve with VII Corps of General Omar Bradley's First Army.
|
Beginning in May 1933, Quentin Walsh served on the former Navy “four-stacker” destroyer Herndon, which the Coast Guard used for offshore patrols between the Gulf of Maine and Cape Hatteras. (U.S. Navy
courtesy photo)
|
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.
For his achievements and
selfless devotion to duty, Walsh received the Navy Cross, the Navy's
second highest award for valor in combat.
Walsh's duties did
not conclude with the successful capture and operation of
Cherbourg's port.
After a month of shipping operations, the
Navy assigned Walsh to lead a naval reconnaissance party of 400 men
to examine the French ports of Brittany, including the port of
Brest. As part of VIII Corps of General George Patton's Third Army,
Walsh's men completed this mission by the end of August 1944. Next,
Walsh's unit joined forces with the First Canadian Army to open the
Port of Le Havre. Once again, his men came under enemy fire as soon
as they entered the city, but they completed the mission within two
weeks.
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 of 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.
By William H. Thiesen, Atlantic Area Historian, USCG
Provided
through
Coast
Guard
Copyright 2016
Comment on this article |
