Our walk was dedicated in honor of:
Army CPL Ryan D. Collins, Age 20 of Vernon, TX.
KIA May 18, 2007 Operation Iraqi Freedom
CPL Collins was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska
CPL Collins died May 18 in Hamiyah, Iraq, of wounds sustained when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small-arms fire.
Collins grew up in Vernon and graduated from high school there in 2004, working in Logsdon’s cabinet shop for about a year before joining the military.
“He wanted to make a difference,” said Logsdon, who added that Collins wanted to make a career out of the military.
“He did love what he was doing,” he said. “He made us proud.”
Logsdon said that Collins had been set to come home on leave around the second weekend in May, but he let another soldier who had a newborn take that leave instead. Collins was then set to come home on leave around Memorial Day weekend.
Logsdon said that Collins liked to play basketball, shoot his pellet gun and loved to listen to all kinds of music.
We had a great 6.29 Mile walk this morning. We headed out in the rain this morning and made a stop at the 9/11 Memorial before heading up town to the War Memorial Park. Due to the rain I didn’t get a lot of photo’s . I want to thank everyone who honked, waved, and saluted in helping me honor this hero today. We had 131 honks. Thank You.
Army CPL Ryan D. Collins will not be forgotten !
