Lieutenant Junior Grade Robbins was the pilot of an AD-4 Skyraider dive bomber with Attack Squadron 145 (702) aboard the carrier USS Boxer (CV-21). On 7 May 1951, he was making a strafing run on an enemy machine gun position three miles east of Inje, when his aircraft was hit by small arms fire and crashed.

Robbins was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.