Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Warrant Officer Kenneth Edward Collins (Service No:4000459) enlisted in the RAAF at No 1 Recruiting Centre Melbourne on 14 September 1940 as an Aircraftman II, and was a Sergeant on 22 February 1941 when he embarked from Sydney for Canada where he was attached to  RCAF Station at Upland in Ontarion. Sergeant Collins flew Tiger Moth, Harvard, Miles Master, Hawker Hurricane, Wirraway, Lincoln and Liberator aircraft and in the UK was attached to 5 Operational Training Unit (OTU), 135, 242 (Spitfire) and 78 Squadrons, and was attached to 605 (Bomber) Squadron on 19 April 1942 when he was Reported Missing in Action in Java. He was confirmed PoW of the Japanese on 10 November 1942 - 'This member was mentioned on a Japanese broadcast from Batavia as being a Prisoner of War' (NAA). Promoted to Flight Sergeant, he was PoW No:1053, captured by the Japanese and held at Camp 3 Nike in Thailand and at Moulamein in Burma. In 1944 his father wrote to the RAAF Casualty Section that 'we are all very anxious, after 3 long years, to hear all we can ...' (NAA). Warrant Officer Collins (promoted 1 May 1944) was repatriated to Siam on 19 August 1945, and embarked from Singapore for Perth WA on board the Highland Brigade on 6 October 1945. Warrant Officer Collins was attached to 605 Squadron (RAF) at Discharge on 14 August 1947. Brother Don also served in the RAAF.

Ken was born in Melbourne, Victoria in 1920, third 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. In 1922 Edgar and Lily moved to Mountain View via Pooyong, Victoria where they raised their family and Edgar was a Farmer.

Ken was a Farmer at Mountain View via Pooyong, Victoria when he enlisted in the RAAF, and following his repatriation to Australia, returned to Mountain View. He was a Pilot in the RAAF in 1946 when he married Margaret Joyce Atkinson (b1924 in Sale, Victoria) in Sale. In the late 1940s Ken and Margaret moved to Melbourne, where Ken was a Manager, before moving to Sale in the the mid 1950s - Ken was a Fruiterer. Following their Divorce, Ken returned to Melbourne where he worked as a Salesman, and in 1965 remarried to Joyce Lillian Moss (nee Crawford; b1924 in Melbourne) - Joyce was working as a Clerk in Melbourne. Ken and Joyce settled in Melbourne, where Ken worked as a Timekeeper and Clerk until his death in 1975. Joyce died in 2009.