William D. Collins was born on June 24, 1911. He was an instructor at Bowen Field, West Memphis, when he entered the Army Air Forces in April 1943. Prior to that he had been a Deputy Sheriff in Crittenden County and with Johnson Motor Co. William served in the US Air Corps as a Second Lieutenant and Co-pilot of an aircraft during World War II. He was stationed at the Fourth Ferrying Group until he was transferred to the India-Burma-China theater. He was killed in the Asiatic area on August 25, 1944 at the age of 33 and is now buried in the Memphis National Cemetery, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, USA.

William was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com