By 1944, he was tired of stateside duty and requested a combat assignment. He was afraid he would miss the war. He was transferred to the 1st Marine Division for the invasion of Okinawa. As a staff officer, he could have stayed behind the lines, but that was not his way. He was often found in the thick of combat. On one occasion, he shot a Japanese sniper at 80 yards with one shot from his .45 automatic. On another, he was with a Marine patrol when a firefight started. As the young Marines were firing back, they heard the steady blast of a .45 in “perfect timed fire,” an enemy soldier down with each shot. Fifty plus years later I asked Walter about this incident. After a thoughtful pause, he replied, “It wasn’t timed fire.”

After the war ended, Walter was assigned to the occupation of North China, protecting the railroads and supplies from bandits. He left active duty in 1946 and returned to a rather chilly reception in the FBI. After about a year, he returned to active duty with the Marine Corps and later commanded the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines.

Walter’s competition continued, very successfully, in fact. He won the Marine Corps Pistol Championship in 1946 and the Eastern Division Rifle Championships in 1947. The following year, he won both the rifle and pistol championships and shot on the U. S. Olympic team. He won countless other awards, including the gold medal as a member of the winning Center-Fire Pistol team in the World Championships. He became the commanding officer of Weapons Training Battalion, Quantico, in 1962 and continued in that assignment until his retirement in 1969. He received the International Distinguished Medal in 1964, making him Triple Distinguished, the first Marine to do so. The top Marine Corps Pistol Trophy is named after him.

Competition continued after his retirement, including service as team captain of the U.S. Int’l Muzzle Loading team at the World Championships in Switzerland in 1994. He also served on the NRA Board of Directors and with several committees. In 1997, Walter Walsh received the Outstanding American Handgunner Award. A proud Bill Jordan made the presentation.

A week after his 100th birthday, I met with Walsh and his grandson Chip at our local gun club. Chip and I shot a couple rounds of skeet, with Walter watching from the sidelines. Finally, Walter couldn’t stand it any longer and dropped down off the tailgate where he was sitting and took the 20 gauge from Chip, and proceeded to hit 10 of 15 birds.

Colonel Walter Walsh is now 103. He still lives in Northern Virginia. He is a very humble individual and at a recent lunch together, I described him as “a fugitive from the law of averages.” He considered this and finally replied, “Yes, I guess I am at that.”