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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
E. Janne Collins

BORN: SEPT .22,1919 in Brooklyn, New York DIED: MAY 4, 2009 in Houston, Texas
Enlisted Serial Number -12022286 Officer Serial Number - A 0580630
John James Collins joined the U.S. Army Air Corps on January 15,1941. He trained at Barksdale Field, Louisiana and Chanute Field, Illinois to become an airframe and engine mechanic. He then taught new mechanics. He attained the rank of staff sergeant. In September 1943 he graduated in Class 43F from Officer Candidate School in Miami, Fla. He shipped out for duty in China. He was in convoy KMF-26 from Oran, Algiers. He was on the SS Banfora, which was next to the HMT Rohna. The Rohna was sunk by a German glide bomb with the loss of 1015 Americans, some of whom were in John's unit. John saw the sinking from his ship.
He arrived in China in January 1944 and served as a maintenance officer in the 8th Fighter Squadron, 3rd Fighter Group, Chinese American Composite Wing (CACW]. This unit was attached to the 14th Air Force. The CACW was composed of both American and Chinese flight and ground crew. Their aircraft were initially P-40's and later P-51's. The aircraft had Chinese markings. John Served in this unit until the end of the war.
John was recalled during the Korean War from 1951 to 1953. He worked as a Procurement Officer in Philadelphia and Greensborough, North Carolina.
He left the Air Force as a Captain.