John was the youngest son of Mr & Mrs B Collins of No. 119 Queen’s Cross, Dudley.
Originally serving with the Royal West Surrey Regiment, he was transferred to the Middlesex Regiment and was attached to the 1st/19th London Regiment at the time he was killed.
Joining the Colours in August 1917, he had been employed by Messrs F W Cook & Sons Ltd as a motor driver. Late 1917/early 1918 was a period of great flux for the British Expeditionary Force; losses in the great 3rd Battle of Ypres of late 1917 and a developing manpower shortage led to the disbandment of many battalions to keep divisions up to strength; several of the New Army battalions of the Middlesex Regiment were disbanded in February 1918, hence his service with three different regiments within twelve months of joining the army.
Similar heavy losses during the 1918 German Spring offensives exacerbated this, so there were many transfers of men between units in this period.
Killed in action on 22nd August 1918, aged 19, during the Battle of Albert 1918 his name appears on the Vis en Artois Memorial to the Missing.
Taking part in a Corps-strength attack to secure the high ground near Happy Valley, the 1st/19th did not fare well that day. They were heavily shelled in the assembly area, and the advance at 4.45am was hampered by “a heavy mist caused by the bombardment raising heavy clouds of dust” according to the War Diary. The first objective was secured by 8.00am. However, follow-up attacks by fresh troops were unable to take and keep the second objective, being heavily shelled and subjected to counter-attacks. Many of the gains were lost. Although the battalion War Diary does not mention casualties, at least 50 men lost their lives that day.
A bachelor, his name is carved on Dudley's civic war memorial in Priory St. His elder brother Walter also served, and is thought to have survived the war.
Note: This story is based on his entry in the book “Dudley’s 1914-1918 War Memorial and the Men commemorated – 2nd Revised & Expanded Edition” by J. B. E. Hale.
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