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Contact Info
Home Town Tallahassee FL
Last Address Burial: Call Family Cemetery (The Grove Plantation) Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida, USA
Date of Passing Jul 29, 2010
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Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Rear Admiral LeRoy Collins Jr. 1934 - 2010
Rear Admiral LeRoy Collins, Jr., USNR (Ret.), 75, died Thursday, July 29, 2010, in Tampa, Fla. A native of Tallahassee, Collins was born on September 3, 1934 to Mary Call Darby Collins and former Florida Governor LeRoy Collins. He graduated from Leon High School where he was an Eagle Scout and served as president of the studentbody. He then accepted an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated in the class of 1956, embarking upon a 34-year military career and retiring as a two-star Rear Admiral in 1990. Admiral Collins served in the Navy for more than 10 years of active duty, beginning with a tour aboard amphibious transport USS Calvert (APA-32). He also served as an analyst for Naval Intelligence in Washington, D.C. and as a ballistic missile weapons officer aboard the newly commissioned nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarine USS James Madison (SSBS-627). He transferred to the Navy Reserves in 1966. Admiral Collins is survived by his wife, Jane Sisson; children Carol Jane Collins Smith (Gregg), Helen Call Collins, LeRoy Collins III (Mary Ellen), and Edward Sisson Collins (Chaz), all of Tampa; and eight grandchildren Phillip Call Jacob, Virginia Darby Smith, Gregory Coyle Smith, Christian Alexander Ines, Sara Irene Ines, Katherine Grace Smith, Hannah Collins Smith and Ayden Elizabeth Collins. He is also survived by his siblings Jane Collins Aurell (John), Tallahassee, Fla.; Mary Call Collins Proctor (Palmer), Tallahassee, Fla.; and Sarah Darby Collins, Miami, Fla. and many nieces and nephews. While a naval reservist, Admiral Collins served as commanding officer of the coastal minesweeper USS Thrush (MSC-204), and later as commanding officer of various Navy Reserve submarine units. He was the Navy’s liaison to the Florida National Guard, and later commanding officer of the Naval liaison unit at U.S. Readiness Command, headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. Admiral Collins also became a prominent businessman and civic leader in Florida. He was instrumental in the growth of electronic payment systems in the United States, starting with the introduction of credit cards in Florida and the Southeast. As the founder and president of the Armed Forces Financial Network, Admiral Collins pioneered the deployment of ATMs and point-of-sale devices in U.S. military installations worldwide, including major U.S. aircraft carriers. He also held several other positions, including founding president of Financial Transaction Systems, Inc. and a senior executive of Telecredit Service Center, Inc. Rather than retiring, Admiral Collins mounted an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2006. He was then appointed by Governor Charlie Crist as the executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs, where he directed the state agency responsible for all of Florida’s 1.8 million veterans. Continuing his support of the military community, Admiral Collins also recently founded the Florida Veterans Foundation, Inc. Admiral Collins also served in leadership positions of various organizations, most notably as president of the Tampa Kiwanis Club, a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization, and a several term Vestry member at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. He also served on the board at Tampa General Hospital. At the time of his death, he was on the boards of the USS Victory Ship and the Collins Center for Public Policy. He married the love of his life, Carol Jane Sisson, of Tampa, at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in 1959, and the couple celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary in June 2010.
Gulf War/Defense of Saudi Arabia /Operation Desert Shield
From Month/Year
August / 1990
To Month/Year
January / 1991
Description
In 1990, fellow Arab Gulf states refused to endorse Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's plan to cut production and raise the price of oil, leaving him frustrated and paranoid. Iraq had incurred a mountain of debt during its war with Iran that had lasted for most of the previous decade, and the Iraqi President felt that his Arab brothers were conspiring against him by refusing to raise oil prices. Therefore, after weeks of massing troops along the Iraq-Kuwait border and accusing Kuwait of various crimes, Hussein sent seven divisions of the Iraqi Army into Kuwait in the early morning hours of 2 August 1990. The invasion force of 120,000 troops and 2,000 tanks quickly overwhelmed Iraq's neighbor to the south, allowing Hussein to declare, in less than a week, that Kuwait was his nation's nineteenth province. The United Nations responded quickly, passing a series of resolutions that condemned the invasion, called for an immediate withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait, imposed a financial and trade embargo on Iraq, and declared the annexation void.
Regarding Iraq's actions as a threat to a vital interest of the US, namely the oil production capability of the Persian Gulf region, President George Bush ordered warplanes and ground forces to Saudi Arabia after obtaining King Fahd's approval. Iraqi troops had begun to mass along the Saudi border, breaching it at some points, and indicating the possibility that Hussein's forces would continue south into Saudi Arabia's oil fields. Operation DESERT SHIELD, the US military deployment to first defend Saudi Arabia grew rapidly to become the largest American deployment since the Southeast Asia Conflict. The Gulf region was within US Central Command's (CENTCOM) area of responsibility. Eventually, 30 nations joined the military coalition arrayed against Iraq, with a further 18 countries supplying economic, humanitarian, or other type of assistance.
Carriers in the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea responded, US Air Force interceptors deployed from bases in the United States, and airlift transports carried US Army airborne troopers to Saudi Arabia. Navy prepositioning ships rushed equipment and supplies for an entire marine brigade from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to the gulf. During the next six months the United States and its allies built up a powerful force in the Arabian peninsula. The navy also began maritime intercept operations in support of a US-led blockade and United Nations sanctions against Iraq.
Coalition forces, specifically XVIII Airborne Corps and VII Corps, used deception cells to create the impression that they were going to attack near the Kuwaiti boot heel, as opposed to the "left hook" strategy actually implemented. XVIII Airborne Corps set up "Forward Operating Base Weasel" near the boot heel, consisting of a phony network of camps manned by several dozen soldiers. Using portable radio equipment, cued by computers, phony radio messages were passed between fictitious headquarters. In addition, smoke generators and loudspeakers playing tape-recorded tank and truck noises were used, as were inflatable Humvees and helicopters.
On 17 January 1991, when it became clear that Saddam would not withdraw, Desert Shield became Desert Storm.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
August / 1990
To Month/Year
January / 1991
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories A native of Tallahasee, Collins â?? who goes by the name Roy â?? was student body president of Leon High School and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1956. He spent more than 10 years in active duty, mainly dealing with submarines, before joining the Naval Reserves. His last post was a deputy chief of naval operations for logistics in 1990. He participated in Operation Desert Shield and was awarded the Legion of Merit three times.