Episode 102: A Family Legacy in Korea

 

The Collins Family (Left to Right: Major General James L. Collins, Sr., General J. Lawton "Lighting Joe" Collins, Brigadier General James L. Collins, Jr., and Major General Michael Collins) are all honored on the front wall of the US Army's Second Infantry Division Museum at Camp Humphreys, South Korea.

James, Sr. (West Point Class of 1907) briefly commanded the Second Infantry Division before the outbreak of World War II.

MG James L. Collins, Sr. in buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 34, Grave 121-A

J. Lawton (West Point Class of 1917), James, Sr's brother, was the Army Chief of Staff during the Korean War. The Second Infantry Division featured prominently in that war and remains on the Korean Peninsula today, nearly 75 since that war broke out.

GEN J. Lawton Collins in buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 30, Grave 422

James, Jr. (West Point Class of 1939) rose to the rank of brigadier general before retiring. He was called back to active duty by the Army to become the service's Chief of Military History. He published several books in that capacity, including War in Peacetime: The History and Lessons of Korea in 1969.

BG James L. Collins, Jr. is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 34, Grave 970

Michael Collins (West Point Class of 1952) - James, Sr's son, J. Lawton's nephew, and James, Jr's brother - chose to join the Air Force after West Point and became a prominent NASA astronaut in the early days of the space race. He carried one of the Second Infantry Division patches his father wore while commanding 2 ID into space with him on the Apollo XI mission to the moon.

Maj Gen Michael Collins is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 51, Grave 2891.

Army Sergeant Robert Hopkins was captured by the German Army during the Battle of the Bulge. An enlisted chaplain, he used a makeshift US flag, constructed with two stolen flour sacks and died blue and red, to preside over the funerals of some 700 US POWs until he escaped captivity near the end of the war. After the war, he became a Methodist minister in Virginia and donated the flag to the 2ID museum in 1979. When he died in 2004, the flag was used one final time, draped over Hopkin's casket during his funeral. After the service, the flag was folded and returned to Korea.

SGT Robert Hopkins is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 69, Grave 3420