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Born in Chicago,
Illinois, December 7, 1895. After attending Western Military Academy at
Alton, Jill,.. and the University of Chicago, he was commissioned a second
lieutenant in the Infantry Reserve and signed to active duty August 15,
1917. He received his Regular commission as a second lieutenant Infantry
October 26, 1917, and was promoted to first lieutenant (temporary) the same
date.
General Collins' first assignment was with 3rd Infantry, with which he
served at Eagle Pass, Texas; Camp Sherman, Ohio, and Fort Snelling
Minnesota. In October 1922, he went to Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, for duty
with the 19th Infantry,
In May 1925, General Collins entered the Infantry School at Fort Benning,
Georgia. He was graduated a year later and remained at the school as an
instructor. In June 1929, he became senior instructor at the Machine Gun
School at Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont. The following 'September he returned to
Infantry School at Fort Benning to take the advanced course, which he
completed in June 1930. He was assigned to the 3rd Brigade at Fort Sam
Houston, Texas, where he conducted a machine gun school. He was transferred
to the 4th Brigade at Fort Francis Warren, Wyoming, in January 1932, as
company machine gun instructor. Six companies which he instructed won the
first six places in the National Infantry Machine Gun Competition in 1932.
General Collins entered the Command and General Staff School at Fort
Leavenworth, Kansas, in Au 1932, and was graduated two years later. He
entered the Army War College from which he graduated in June 1935, and
assigned to the Chemical Warfare School at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland.
In August 1935, upon graduation from the Chemical Warfare School, General
Collins was assign Hawaii as instructor of the Hawaiian. National Go at
Wailuku, Maui, and as commander of the Maui District of the Hawaiian
Department Service Command, including the islands of Molokai, Maui,
Lanai, Kahoo-lawe.
In September 1936,
he assumed command of Kilauea Military Camp in Hawaii. In July 1938,
General Collins became assistant to Plans and Training officer of the 7th
Infantry at Vancouver Barracks, Washington, and commander of the 1st
Battalion of that regiment. In March 1939, he was appointed executive
officer of the 7th Infantry. in October 1939, was assigned to the 6th
Infantry Division at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, as assistant to Plans and
Training officer.
General Collins was assigned in November 1940, to duty with General
Headquarters of the Army. The following February, he was appointed
intelligence officer of the 11th Infantry Division at Fort Snelling. He went
to England as a Military Observer in June 1941, later returning to his
assignment with the 11th Infantry Division. He became intelligence officer
of the IV Army Corps at Camp Beauregard, in November 1941. In April 1942, he
activated the 354th Infantry Regiment and commanded it at Camp Carson,
Colorado. In August 1942, he was named. assistant commander of the 99th
Infantry Division, at Camp Yap Dorn, Mississippi.
In April, 1943, he assumed command of the 42nd (Rainbow) Division at Camp
Gruber, Oklahoma. In December 1944, after a rigorous period of training, tit
division was rushed to the Rhine near Strasbourg where it played a major
role in stopping the last German drive in the West.
General Collins then reformed his unit and it relieved the 45th Division,
Seventh Army, in a defensive position on the Moder River. Jumping off on
March 15, 1945, the 42nd attacked through the Hardt Mountains and the West
Wall, crossed the Rhine and captured Wurzburg, Schweinfurt, Furth,
Donauworth, Dachau, and Munich.
Following V-E Day, the 42nd occupied the eastern Tyrol, then moved into Land
Salzburg, Austria. As divisions were deactivated, the 42nd extended its area
and took over the entire U.S. Zone of Austria. In March 1946, General
Collins was named military governor of the zone and commander of the troops
in the American zone. After the deactivation of the Division the following
July, General Collins headed the Zone Command Austria.
In July 1948, General Collins was appointed to command the 2nd Infantry
Division of Fort Lewis, Washington. He became commanding general of the New
York-New Jersey Sub-Area Headquarters, with station at Fort Totten, New
York, in April 1950, and the following January assumed command of the 8th
Division at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
In January 1952, General Collins was assigned to the office of the Military
Attaché at Moscow, Russia, with approximately five months temporary duty
enroute to the office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence at
Army headquarters.
In October 1952, it was announced that General Collins had been assigned
as commanding general of the 31st Infantry Division, Camp Atterbury,
Indiana.
General Collins has been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver
Star, Bronze Star Medal, and Army Commendation Ribbon. His foreign
decorations include the French Legion of Honor (Order of Chevalier) and
Croix de Guerre with Palm, and the Order of the Crown of Italy.
He was promoted to captain (permanent) July 1, 1920; to major (permanent)
August 1, 1935; to lieutenant colonel (permanent) August 18, 1940; to
colonel (temporary) December 24, 1941; to brigadier general (temporary)
October 30, 1942; to major general (temporary) September 22, 1943; to
colonel (permanent) January 1, 1947; to brigadier general (permanent)
January 24, 1948, with date of rank from June 5, 1944; to major general
(permanent) October 1, 1949; with date of rank from February 10, 1947. |
