 On June 17, 1911, after he graduated from high school, del Valle received an appointment by George Radcliffe Colton, who served from 1909 to 1913 as the U.S. appointed governor of Puerto Rico, to attend the U.S.Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.He graduated from the academy in June 1915 and was commissioned a second lieutenant of the Marine Corps on June 5, 1915.