Medal of Honor: William Gary Walsh – U.S. Marine Corps – World War II

Name: William Gary Walsh
Rank: Gunnery Sergeant
Branch: U.S. Marine Corps Reserve
Unit: Attached to Company G, 3d Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division
Place: Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands
Born: 7 April 1922, Roxbury, Massachusetts
Accredited To: Massachusetts

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Summary of Action

As Company G advanced toward Hill 362 on Iwo Jima, vicious Japanese machine gun fire tore into the Marines from a fortified ridge guarding the approach to the stronghold.

Gunnery Sergeant William Gary Walsh did not hesitate.

He charged at the head of his assault platoon up the steep, rocky slope, utterly disregarding the relentless automatic weapons fire and hand grenades hurled down upon his men.

Thrown back once by savage resistance, he rallied his Marines and led them upward again — defiant in the face of annihilating fire.

Despite mounting casualties and the enemy’s superior position, Walsh and his men reached the crest of the ridge. There, Japanese defenders launched a final, desperate barrage of hand grenades from the reverse slope.

One grenade landed among his surviving Marines, huddled together in a small trench.

There was no time.

In a final, selfless act, Gunnery Sergeant Walsh threw himself onto the grenade.

The explosion tore through him — but it did not tear through his men.

His sacrifice saved his comrades from death or grievous injury and enabled the company to seize and hold the vital position on Hill 362.

Through extraordinary initiative and inspiring valor in the face of almost certain death, he upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and gallantly gave his life for his country.

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Medal of Honor Citation

WALSH, WILLIAM GARY

Born: 7 April 1922, Roxbury, Mass.

For extraordinary gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as leader of an assault platoon, attached to Company G, 3d Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces at Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands on 27 February 1945. With the advance of his company toward Hill 362 disrupted by vicious machinegun fire from a forward position which guarded the approaches to this key enemy stronghold, G/Sgt. Walsh fearlessly charged at the head of his platoon against the Japanese entrenched on the ridge above him, utterly oblivious to the unrelenting fury of hostile automatic weapons fire and handgrenades employed with fanatic desperation to smash his daring assault. Thrown back by the enemy’s savage resistance, he once again led his men in a seemingly impossible attack up the steep, rocky slope, boldly defiant of the annihilating streams of bullets which saturated the area. Despite his own casualty losses and the overwhelming advantage held by the Japanese in superior numbers and dominant position, he gained the ridge’s top only to be subjected to an intense barrage of handgrenades thrown by the remaining Japanese staging a suicidal last stand on the reverse slope. When 1 of the grenades fell in the midst of his surviving men, huddled together in a small trench, G/Sgt. Walsh, in a final valiant act of complete self-sacrifice, instantly threw himself upon the deadly bomb, absorbing with his own body the full and terrific force of the explosion. Through his extraordinary initiative and inspiring valor in the face of almost certain death, he saved his comrades from injury and possible loss of life and enabled his company to seize and hold this vital enemy position. He gallantly gave his life for his country.