Airman First Class Collins was a crew member of a RB-26C Invader bomber with the 6166th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. On 22 February 1952, while on a weather reconnaissance mission over Pyongyang, North Korea, contact with the aircraft was lost. He was listed as Missing in Action and was presumed dead on 31 December 1953. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Collins was awarded the Air Medal, the Purple Heart, 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.