Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Leading Aircraftman Donald William Collins (Service No:126270) initially served as a Cadet with Air Training Corps (ATC) - No 1 Wing Squadron - from 6 October 1941. He enlisted in the RAAF at No 1 Recruiting Centre Melbourne on 21 January 1943 as an Aircraftman I - mustered as Technical Trainee and later re mustered as Flight Rigger, then Fitter. Promoted to Leading Aircraftman on 1 January 1945, he was attached to 1 Flying Boat Repair Depot at Discharge on 10 April 1946. Brother Ken (Service No:4000459) also served in the RAAF and was a PoW of the Japanese.

Don was born in Warragul, Victoria in 1924, fourth of five children of Edgar Reuben Collins (b1881 at Kensington Hill, Geelong, Victoria) and Lily Gallop (b1888 in Melbourne, Victoria). Edgar (a Traveller) and Lily (a Dressmaker) married in 1912 in Melbourne, where they lived and Edgar worked as a Traveller until 1922. Edgar and Lily settled at Mountain Viwe via Pooyong, where they raised their family and Edgar was a Farmer.

Don was working in Melbourne as an Insurance Clerk with The Prudential Assurance Co when he elisted in the RAAF. Following his Discharge, he returned to Mountain View where he worked as a Farm Hand. In 1951 Don was working as a Steward in Melbourne when he married Joyce Jaclyn Watson (b1930 in Melbourne, Victoria). Don and Joyce settled in Melbourne, where they raised their family and Don worked as a Steward and, from the early 1960s, as an Assember. Don died in 2021.