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I served with Mel during basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. We also served our AIT together at Ft. Lee, Va. and our ASI at Ft. Dix, N.J. Mel and I were split up after training. I went to Korea and believe he did also, but went to different units. I lost contact with Mel and found out while reading a list of casualties in the Stars And Stripes that Mel was killed in the Gulf. I was also in the Gulf War with the First Tiger Brigade of the Second Armored Division from Ft. Hood, Tx. I just learned from reading his tribute just how he died. I never knew. All I knew was he was killed. I have never forgotten Mel through all of these years and think of him often. When we were in training, most of the guys called Mel papaw because he was older than the rest of us. I remember Mel telling me he had been in the Army before, I believe his MOS was commo when he was in the first time. He had to go back through basic because he had been out more than ten years. Mel told me he came back in to support his family. I remember meeting Mel's wife and at least one daughter when they came to visit him at Ft. Lee, Va. I occasionally write poetry and had actually written a piece of poetry about Mel, after his death. I kept it for a long time and at some point I lost it. I still remember the first few lines of it, but it was rather lengthy and I forgot most of it. I thought a time or two about trying to get in contact with his wife, but could not bring myself to do it. She probably wouldn't even remember me, but I remember meeting her. I just want to say that I counted Mel as a truly good friend. Even though it has been all these years, I still think of him and miss him like a brother. God bless you Mel! Rest in peace my dear friend!
Melford Ray Collins was born in Muleshoe, Texas to Fred R Collins and Betty Jewell Hulcey.
He died in the Gulf War at the Persian Gulf, Arabia, He was awarded a Purple Heart by the US Army.
Wife: Norma Ruth Ann Herrington
Children: Betty Jean Collins
Army Pfc. Melford Ray Collins, the second Texan killed in ground combat in the Persian Gulf, died defusing a land mine. It was a task he had volunteered for, in a place he didn't have to be.
Pfc. Collins, of Uhland, south of Austin, broke his hand before getting orders sending him to the gulf. They werent going to deploy him, his 13-year-old daughter Betty said Wednesday. He broke the cast off and told the doctor and the officers that he was OK. He felt it was necessary for him to go. As a petroleum supply specialist with the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kan., her father worked driving a fuel truck -- not handling mines. They would go in front of the supplies. There was a land mine that I guess they had forgotten. They said it was probably volunteer work, Betty said. The men from the Army who told us, they said he kind of saved his company or unit. They said we ought to be very proud of him, she said.
Pfc. Collins, born, April 3, 1956, in Muleshoe, Texas, died Monday along the Saudi border with Kuwait or Iraq.
Maj. Joe Padilla, an Army spokesman, said he could confirm only that Pfc. Collins died as the result of an enemy mine, somewhere on the front. The first Texan to die in ground combat, Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Walker, 20, of Whitehouse, was killed at the end of January, before the major ground offensive began. Betty said her father called home twice after his unit was deployed at the end of December. He was just trying to tell us what was going on, said Betty. She is staying with her mother Ruth, 39, brother, David, 17, and her grandparents in Wimberley, in Central Texas. The last time he called, they were fixing to go into Iraq and he was kind of scared, Betty said. The family last heard from him a week ago. We got a tape, one of those little microtapes. He was just telling us what was going on over there. He said that he just wished - it would get over; the quicker it got over with the quicker he would get home, Betty said. After funeral services in Wimberley, Pfc. Collins will receive a military burial next week at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. He is survived by his parents, Betty Collins of Wylie and Fred Collins of Levelland; three sisters; and three brothers.
I met Melford the day he died. He talk about how much he missed his wife and kids while fueling up my humble. Later that night I received orders to drive to a mine field to help with a wounded soilder. To my shock it was PFC Collins and we tried to revive but he passed. I transported his body to the rear. It was the longest night of my life. I met and lost a friend the same day. I still struggle with his loss.