"Going into Southern France was my first daylight invasion, the other three had been at night…I was leading fourteen men inland when we came under fire from a German machine gun nest. I decided to take out the nest, so my men gave me cover, I ran short distances, dodging and dropping, then crawled the last fifty yards. I pulled the pin and threw in a grenade. It killed the gunner and wounded his assistant, and then their rifleman appeared above me and fired…The first one missed me and I fired and killed him, the other one surrendered.

"When you take someone out, you begin to think when is it going to be my turn."

Edward Collins received a Silver Star for his heroism, plus numerous other medals.

Thank you Ed for your dedicated service.