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Sergeant Major William B. Walsh II, USMC retired, was deployed on July 21, 2015, to his final duty station.
Bill was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He joined the Marine Corps in 1972 and served in numerous locations worldwide during his 28 plus years of active duty service. He was stationed in Jacksonville, FL; Yuma, AZ; El Toro, CA; Camp Pendleton, CA; Amarillo, TX; Barstow, CA; Iwakuni, Japan; Baharan; Camp Fugi, Japan; Yechon, Korea; Okinawa, Japan; and finally retired out of Yuma, AZ. He served in Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Sergeant Major Walsh was a lifetime member of the VFW and DAV organizations, the NRA, and the Marine Corps Association. He was also a member of Living Word Chapel in Oracle, AZ.
Upon retiring from the Marine Corps, Sergeant Major Walsh became the senior military instruction for the MCJROTC program at Ray High School in Kearny, AZ. After one year at Ray High School, he felt obligated to give back to the United States after of the horrific 9-11 attacks. Bill was one of the early architects of TSA and played an instrumental role in building TSA Tucson. He was in the very first Mobile Screening Force in March, 2002, rolling out TSA on the east coast. He became one of Tucson International Airport’s first Managers where he started checked baggage from the ground floor, opening in the cold early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2003. Bill was later the Training Manager, Deputy AFSD of Screening, and senior security manager before retiring in 2014.
Despite fighting two different cancers, (GIST in 1995 and malignant melanoma in 2005) he earned his Doctorate of Education degree in 2009. In 2013, the GIST metastasized and was diagnosed as terminal.
He was preceded in death by his father, William B. Walsh, mother, Mina A. Walsh; brothers, Bryan Walsh and Bruce Walsh; and nephews, Brady Walsh, Bryan (Bo) Walsh.
Sergeant Major Walsh is survived by his wife, Bonnielee; sons, Ronnie (Kim) of Idaho, William, III (Noelia) of central California, and Samuel (Penelope) of Arizona; and daughter, Diana (Derick) of southern California. He was a proud grandpa to seven grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in his memory to Banner UMC Cancer Center at The Banner University of Arizona Cancer Center, 3838 N. Campbell Ave., Tucson, Arizona 85719.
There are news or informational items frequently written by staff or submitted to the Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner, Superior Sun, Pinal Nugget or Oracle Towne Crier for inclusion in our print or digital products. These items are not credited with an author.
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