World War II Honoree

Robert Lewis Collins

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Jamestown, Kansas

Honored By

Mark W. Collins

Relationship

Son

He entered the Navy service in Kansas City, Missouri on October 2, 1942 at the age of 21. He was immediately processed to the Hutchinson Naval Air Station in Hutchinson, Kansas. The Navy was in the process of building a new primary flight air station south of Hutchinson. Prior to the completion of the base, he stayed at the Kansas State Fairgrounds 4-H building for several weeks of boot camp training. He was in Company B which followed Company A by two weeks. As more companies arrived, he stayed in private homes, and hotels. In the spring he was moved to the new base that had gotten a few Stearman training planes, which had been operating from the Hutchinson Municipal Airport. His job was to help get the planes ready for flight by defrosting the planes in freezing weather. He also had the duties of mess cooking and Seaman Guard. Following that, he was in building and grounds where he did a lot of furniture moving and inventory work. He was at the Hutchinson Naval Air Station until mid-December, 1944. He was sent to San Diego, California on December 19, 1944, where he was assigned to Headquarters Squadron Ordnance on North Island driving a bomb truck. The third week in June, 1945 the aircraft carrier, USS Antietam arrived at North Island. He was assigned to the carrier's machine shop which had four turning lathes, a milling machine, a radial drill, a drill press, grinders, metal saws, plus many other tools. The machinists there taught him how to operate the machines. Eventually, he made Machinist's Mate 3rd Class. The USS Antietam headed for Pearl Harbor and into dry dock to have gun mounts welded on the carrier. After the first A-bomb was dropped on Japan, the USS Antietam headed for the battle zone, Japan, with the USS Intrepid and USS Cabot. However, word was received that Japan had asked for surrender; August 15, 1945. The USS Antietam proceeded on to Eniwetok atoll, Marshall Islands. From there, the USS Antietam went through the San Bernardino Straits to the Philippine Islands. He went to Manila and had overnight liberty. saw Corregidor, an island in the Philippines, just south of the Bataan Peninsula on Luzon Island, where the Bataan death march started. From Manila, the USS Antietam went to Okinawa, Japan then to the Yellow Sea, located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. The USS Antietam anchored off Tsingtao, China. Then the USS Antietam went to Yokosuka, Japan, and had liberty there. The USS Antietam made several trips back to the Yellow Sea. Christmas, 1945 and New Year’s, 1946 were spent in Yokosuka, Japan. From there the USS Antietam headed for Saipan and Tinian in the Mariana Islands. The USS Antietam was in Guam, the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands, several times. It was at Guam, where he got off the USS Antietam and boarded a troop ship, the USS President Jackson, heading home to the states. The USS President Jackson stopped at Wake Island, 2,298 miles west of Honolulu, Hawaii, to pick up Army soldiers and 16 days later was in San Francisco, California. He took a train to Norman, Oklahoma, where he received his Honorable Discharge on April 26, 1946.