Early Life
Frank Junior Collins was born in Breckenridge, Texas, on June 19, 1918. He attended Breckenridge High School and played football for the Breckenridge Buckaroos. During his junior year, Collins transferred to Allen Military Academy. After graduation, he attended junior college at Texas Technical College, and was later accepted into Texas Wesleyan College where he earned his bachelor’s degree.
Pilot’s Training
In 1942, Collins enlisted in the US Army Air Corps at Kelly Field, Texas. He completed his primary training in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, did his basic training in Sherman, Texas, and received his pilot’s wings at Foster Field, Texas. Collins spent three additional months doing advanced flying training on the East Coast, where he was given a First Lieutenant’s commission.
A Nation at War
On July 30, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that American troops would be sent into French North Africa to provide support for the Allied cause – an operation that would eventually be known as Operation Torch. Commanded by Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of the aims of Operation Torch was to provide much needed relief to the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front by forcing the Germans and Italians to shift their attention to the combined efforts of the Anglo-American invasion of North Africa.
Military Service
British and American troops landed in Morocco and Algiers on November 8, 1942. In January of 1943, Frank Collins was deployed to North Africa and joined the 319th Fighter Squadron of the 325th Fighter Group. Early on, he participated in raids over Essen, Sardinia, Pantelleria, Tunisia, and parts of Sicily. Collins flew a Curtiss P-40, naming his first plane the “Lula” after his mother, and dubbing another the “Texas Tornado.”
By 1943, Collins was a flying ace, having shot down multiple enemy aircraft during the war. He was promoted to the rank of Captain and that same year, was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross. For his exemplary service in North Africa, the Mediterranean, Europe, and the Pacific, he was also given the Silver Star, an Air Medal with twenty-three oak leaf clusters, and a Purple Heart. The latter was received after Collins was wounded on a mission in Japan.
On July 12, 1945, Collins was hit and got ejected from his aircraft. He spent two days in open water after which he was captured by the enemy and spent the remainder of the war a prisoner of the Japanese. Once Collins was released back to the US, he spent some months recuperating in the hospital before he resumed his Air Force career.
Frank Collins retired as a US Air Force Brigadier General in 1967. He died on December 13, 2000.
