Rank: Sergeant
Unit: C Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11B – Infantryman
Awards: Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Presidential Unit Citation, Valorous Unit Award, Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Selected Service
Date of birth: 1-Aug-1947
Hometown: Barberton, Ohio
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 14-Oct-1966
Start of tour: 27-Oct-1967
Incident date: 13-May-1968
Date of casualty: 13-May-1968
Age at death: 20
Cause of death: Hostile, Died. Small Arms Fire. Gun or small arms fire.
Ralph Raymond Collins Jr died from wound received when engaged hostile fore in firefight while on combat operation.
Five Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
SSG Ollis Brewster
SGT Ralph Raymond Collins Jr
SGT Douglas George Factora
SGT Bobby James
CPL Frederick F. Walters
Location of fatality: Long Khanh, South Vietnam
Place of interment: Greenlawn Memorial Park, Akron, Ohio, USA
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BRONZE STAR MEDAL
WITH VALOR DEVICE
POSTHUMOUS
SPECIALIST FOUR RALPH RAYMOND COLLINS JR
13 MAY 1968
C TROOP, 1st SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Specialist Four Collins distinguished himself by valorous actions on 13 May 1968, while serving as an Assault Vehicle Crewman with Troop C, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, on a combat assault mission near Cu Chi, Vietnam. After suppressing the enemy with numerous hand grenades and accurate fire from his M79 grenade launcher, Specialist Collins assumed a fully exposed position beside the commanders cupola and aided in loading the .50 caliber, machine gun. In the process, Specialist Collins was suddenly struck and mortally wounded by enemy small arms fire. His courageous actions were instrumental in the destruction of the bunker complex and in the defeat of the enemy force. Specialist Four Collins’ personal bravery and devotion to duty are in keeping, with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
Headquarters, 9th Infantry Division General Orders No. 5160 (26 June 1968)