Albert Collins

Albert Collins

Company C 1/22 Infantry

KIA 09/03/66

Age: 21
Race: Negro
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: Aug 14, 1945
From: ATLANTA, GA
Religion: BAPTIST
Marital Status: Single

PFC - E3 - Army - Selective Service
4th Infantry Division
Length of service 0 years
His tour began on Jul 21, 1966
Casualty was on Sep 3, 1966
In , SOUTH VIETNAM
HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY
GUN, SMALL ARMS FIRE
Body was recovered

Panel 10E - Line 66

On September 3, 1966, while operating on a search and destroy mission as a member of Company C 1/22 Infantry, PFC Albert Collins was killed when he was cut down by heavy fire from a Viet Cong unit.

He thus became the first soldier from 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry killed in action in Vietnam, and at the same time the first soldier from the 4th Infantry Division killed in action in Vietnam.

His name is engraved on Panel 10E line 66 of the Vietnam Memorial.

The mountain area where Albert Collins was Killed In Action.

Closeup of the area of the engagement where PFC Collins was Killed In Action.
Numerous scars of bomb craters can be seen,
where an air strike had been called in during the action.

The grave of Albert Collins

"Vietnam veteran Bob Babcock of Marietta places flowers in front of the grave of Albert Collins, the first soldier from the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 4th Division in Vietnam to die. Babcock, who served in the same division, takes flowers to Collins' grave in the National Cemetery in Marietta every year, though the two men never met."

Taken from the Marietta Daily Journal, Tuesday, May 28, 2002

Editor's note:

Bob Babcock is a veteran of B Company 1/22 Infantry 1965-1967.

A wreath honoring PFC Collins placed at his gravesite
by Bob Babcock May 30, 2005

The placard of the wreath, May 30, 2005

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