Smith & Wesson Forum - View Single Post - Penultimate Pre Postwar Magnum is in Mexico!

handejector · 07-30-2007, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Clyde from Carolina:
This has been a great thread.

At least one other Marine carried a personally owned Registered Magnum into combat in the Pacific that I know of...

Walter Walsh was a competitive shooter and FBI agent before the war as well as being a reserve officer in the Marine Corps. His most famous arrest was probably Doc Barker, the son of the notorious "Ma" Barker. Walsh won the Dupont Trophy in 1939 for the best overall aggregate score at the National Matches at Camp Perry, which I believe involved High Power rifle, centerfire pistol, and small bore rifle.

Colonel Walsh was interviewed by Skeeter Skelton, and I have the interview in Skeeter's book "Good Friends, Good Guns, Good Whiskey". Walsh said he resigned from the FBI to go into the Marines full time during the war. He took two pistols overseas, a custom Colt M1911 .45 automatic he had been presented for winning a shooting tournament, and his Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum from his FBI days. He said he only had one box of ammo for the .357 so he didn't shoot it much.

On Okinawa Walsh used his shooting skills and the .45 to kill a Japanese sniper at 90 yards, a heckuva shot in anybody's book! He was interviewed for the American Rifleman's 2003 article on the National Match 1903 Springfield. Colonel Walsh was still going strong at that time at the age of 95. He remembered the NM '03 as a fine rifle, and obviously he knew how to shoot one.

I'm posting a link to an article by John Taffin for GUNS magazine where he discusses Colonel Walsh and several other old time shooters and gun "characters." I wonder how many other pre-war .357 Magnums were carried into combat during the war?

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...9/ai_103381607

Is this the same Walsh in the center of the pic above?