VIETNAM - COLLINS, RALPH RAYMOND JR

Collins, Ralph Raymond Jr

VIETNAM - COLLINS, RALPH RAYMOND JR
COLLINS, RALPH RAYMOND JR

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

View this soldier‘s Find a Grave page (opens in a new window)

Vietnam Veterans Memorial panel and row: 59E 019 (view Vietnam Veterans Memorial link in a new window)

 

BRONZE STAR MEDAL

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)