Percy Arnold COLLINS

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COLLINS, Percy Arnold

Service Numbers:	2046, V359638
Enlisted:	23 September 1914
Last Rank:	Corporal
Last Unit:	Volunteer Defence Corps (VIC)
Born:	Woorak, Victoria, Australia, 2 November 1896
Home Town:	Kiata, Hindmarsh, Victoria
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Labourer
Died:	Result of WWI Gas Poisoning, Heidelberg Military Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 28 August 1947, aged 50 years
Cemetery:	Dimboola Cemetery, Dimboola, Victoria https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/203442566/percy-arnold-collins
Memorials:

World War 1 Service

23 Sep 1914:	Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2046, 6th Infantry Battalion
19 Oct 1914:	Involvement Private, 2046, 6th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: ''
19 Oct 1914:	Embarked Private, 2046, 6th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Hororata, Melbourne
25 Mar 1918:	Wounded AIF WW1, Corporal, 2046, 5th Infantry Battalion, France - Gas Poisoning
16 Oct 1918:	Embarked AIF WW1, Corporal, 2046, 6th Infantry Battalion, embarked Italy for RTA on board Port Sydney
31 Jan 1919:	Discharged AIF WW1, Corporal, 2046, 6th Infantry Battalion

World War 2 Service

19 Mar 1942:	Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , V359638, Volunteer Defence Corps (VIC)
1 Oct 1945:	Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , V359638, Volunteer Defence Corps (VIC)

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

T/Corporal Percy Arnold Collins (Service No:2046) enlisted in the AIF on 23 September 1914 and was a Private attached to 6th Infantry Battalion on 19 October 1914 when he embarked with his Unit from Melbourne bound for Egypt and Gallipoli on board HMAT A20 Honorata. Private Collins served in Egypt, Gallipoli and on the Western Front with 6th, 15th and 5th Battalions and was WiA in France (Gas Poisoning) on 25 March 1918. On 16 October 1918 Private Collins embarked from Italy for the RTA on board the Port Sydney and was attached to 6th Infantry Battalion at Discharge on 31 January 1919. 'He was an original ANZAC, celebrating his 18th birthday just after leaving Australia .... He fought in Gallipoli and later in France, and was on his way home to Australia when the armistace was signed' (Trove: Obituary: 1947). In WWI, he served as a Warrant Officer II (Service No:V359638) with 14th Battalion VDC from 19 March 1942 to 1 October 1945.

Born in Woorak, Victoria in 1896, Percy was eldest of five children of Henry Collins (b1868 in Mt Gambier, South Australia) and Elizabeth Dickinson (b1871 at Murphy's Creek, Victoria). Henry was a Storekeeper in Kiata via Nhill, Victoria in 1895 when he and Elizabeth married and lived in Woorak and Kiata where they raised their family and Henry was a Storekeeper. Following Elizabeth's death in 1912, Henry remarried in 1913 to Bertha Louise Devlin (Nee Holland; b1878 in Millicent, South Australia). By 1919 Henry and Bertha had moved to Portland, where Henry was a Storekeeper/Merchant. He remarried following Bertha's death in 1937 - to Florence Marion Facey (b1890 in Cranbourne, Victoria) - Florence was a Nurse at Portland Hospital when she and Henry married in 1938. Henry and Florence lived in Portland where Henry was a Storekeeper.

Percy lived in Kiata via Nhill where he worked as a Labourer and was a member of the Senior Cadets and the Nhill Rifle Club. Following WWI, Percy returned to Kiata where he was a Storekeeper in 1922 when he married Mary Ann Clark (b1901 in Nhill, Victoria). By 1927 Percy and Mary had settled in Gerang Gerung via Dimboola where they raised their family (seven daughters). Percy was Storekeeper and Postmaster and was prominent in local football and cricket (Trove; 1947). He retired in 1946 due to poor health, and he and Mary moved to Horsham. Percy died in 1947 and Mary in 1987.

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