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Personal info

Full name
COLLINS, Roger Walter
Date of birth
1 May 1922
Age
21
Place of birth
Illinois
Hometown
Oak Park, Cook County, Illinois

Military service

Service number
16144521
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Tail Gunner
Unit
367th Bombardment Squadron,
306th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
11 January 1944
Place of death
On the land of Mr. H. A. Bessembinder
Nieuw Heeten, community of Raalten, The Netherlands

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
I 10 4

Immediate family

Members
Thomas P. Collins (father)
Mary A. (Rogers) Collins (mother)
Mary Collins (sister)
John J. Collins (brother)
Michael J. Collins (brother)
James J. Collins (brother)
Alice M. Collins (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
42-31538
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: Norah
Destination: Halberstadt, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the Junkers aviation industry
MACR: 1932

More information

S/Sgt Roger W. Collins was a graduate of Fenwick High School and played baseball with the "Friars". While attending St. Benedict college at Atkinson, Kansas, he volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United States in Chicago, Illinois on 23 October 1942. He was sent overseas in October 1943.

The plane #42-31538 collided with plane #42-31236 after being attacked by a FW 190 of II/JG26.

The plane crashed on the land of Mr H A Bessembinder at Nieuw Heeten.

All crew members of both airplanes, twenty men in total, were killed.

S/Sgt Collins was initially buried at the cemetery of Raalte and after evacuated to Margraten, initially buried in a temporary grave as Unknown X-2109 on 19 December 1945. After being disinterred, his remains could be identified in June 1946.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Collins Family, www.ancestry.com - 1940 Census, www.newspaperarchive.com - Oak Park Oak Leaves, IDPF

Photo source: Ron Raaijmakers, Collins Family