62 Proceedings Summer 2025 Quentin Walsh D-Day planner and Cherbourg liberator by William h. thiesen Atlantic Area Historian U.S. Coast Guard C oast Guard officer Quentin Robert Walsh expe- rienced one of the most colorful careers in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard. A native of Groton, Connecticut, 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. He was a fine ath- lete and a standout boxer, serving as co-captain of the academy’s boxing team. His tenacity would serve him well as a Coast Guard officer in wartime and peace. Walsh spent much of his career on sea duty or on for- eign assignments. In his first billet after graduation, he experienced the rigors of Prohibition enforcement dur- ing 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 addition to rum-running patrols, Herndon participated in naval operations out of Key West, Florida, to protect U.S. citi- zens during the Cuban Revolution of 1933. In September 1934, Walsh transferred to the 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. One of the many highlights of Walsh’s career was his tour as the Coast Guard inspector in charge of enforcing whaling treaty regulations. His assignment began in May 1937, when he boarded the American-flagged factory ship Ulysses to serve on board for a year. By April 1938, the Ulysses had steamed 30,000 miles, including the waters of Antarctica and the Indian Ocean. At one point, the ves- sel had spent 132 straight days without seeing land and had killed 3,665 whales. Walsh’s first-hand knowledge of whaling practices heavily influenced the formulation of U.S. whaling policy, and his written report was later published in book form. Between 1938 and the U.S. entry into World War II in 1941, Walsh served on board a variety of cutters. He first served on the Cayuga, which survived the Great Hurricane of 1938 when he ordered the use of towing hawsers to moor the cutter to her Boston dock. In the spring of 1939, he served as navigator on board cutter Northland in explorer Richard Byrd’s expedition to Antarctica. However, Byrd ended the expedition early when war broke out in Europe. In October 1939, Walsh transferred to the 327-foot cut- ter Campbell and served as navigator and gunnery offi- cer while the cutter convoyed merchantmen across the Quentin Walsh, who retired from the Coast Guard as a captain in 1960, was awarded the Navy Cross, the Navy’s highest recognition for heroism beside the Medal of Honor, for his actions in and around Cherbourg, France, following D-Day. Coast Guard photo
