Private First Class Atkins was a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 187th Airborne Infantry Regimental Combat Team. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the enemy in South Korea on 23 May 1951. He was presumed dead on 31 December 1953. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Atkins was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, 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.