James A. Walsh (Medal of Honor)
United States Navy Medal of Honor recipient (1897–1960)
James Aloysius Walsh (July 24, 1897 – May 29, 1960) was a United States Navy sailor and a recipient of the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his role in the occupation of Veracruz. Only 16 at the time of his actions, he was possibly the youngest recipient of the Medal in the 20th century.
A native of New York City, Walsh joined the Navy from there and by April 21, 1914, was serving as a seaman on the USS Florida (BB-30). On that day and the next, he participated in the capture of the Mexican port city of Veracruz. Walsh went ashore as a member of a five-man signal squad led by Ensign Edward O. McDonnell. The other squad members were Charles F. Bishop, Charles L. Nordsiek and Fred J. Schnepel. Despite being under constant enemy fire, the squad continued to relay signals to and from USS Prairie offshore from an exposed rooftop position. For his "extraordinary heroism" during the battle, Walsh was awarded the Medal of Honor two months later, on June 15.
Walsh left the Navy, but re-enlisted in 1917 to serve aboard a destroyer during World War I. After the war, he left active duty again to work as an insurance broker. Returning to active duty during World War II, Walsh received the commissioned officer rank of lieutenant in 1942 and served as an amphibious warfare instructor.
The public source identifies “James A. Walsh (Medal of Honor)” as united States Navy Medal of Honor recipient (1897–1960). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around James, Walsh and Medal.
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This entry incorporates text from “James A. Walsh (Medal of Honor)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.