Harry J. Collins
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Harry J. Collins (born December 7, 1895 - died March 8, 1963), was a Army Major General born in Chicago, Illinois. By his request, he is buried in Salzburg, Austria.
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[edit] Military career
Graduate of the Western Military Academy and University of Chicago where, upon graduation in 1917, he received commission into the United States Army and assigned to the 3rd Infantry Regiment.
Served in a variety of assignments in the US and overseas during World War I, most notably on staff at the Infantry School at Fort Benning. In August 1942, was named assistant division commander of the 99th Infantry Division at Camp Yap Dorn, Mississippi. In April, 1943, assumed command of the 42nd Infantry Division (the famed Rainbow Division) at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma. In December 1944, the division arrived in France and played a major role in stopping the last German drive into Western Europe, known as the Battle of the Bulge. He was credited with the liberating the Dachau concentration camp at the end of the war. Following V-E Day, the 42nd assumed occupation duty in western Austria, and served as military governor. In July 1948, he was appointed commander of the 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington, and later assumed command of New York-New Jersey area headquarters at Fort Totten, New York. In January 1951, he was assigned to command the 8th Division at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. A year later he got assigned to the office of Military Attache in Moscow, USSR and then back to the US to command the 31st Infantry Division in Camp Atterbury, Indiana.
He retired in 1954 and moved to Salzburg, an area he grew to love while serving there during World War II, along with his wife Irene Gehmacher who was in fact Austrian. He is buried at the Saint Peter's churchyard cemetery in Salzburg.
[edit] Awards and Decorations
- Distinguished Service Medal
- Silver Star
- Bronze Star
- French Legion of Honor (Order of Chevalier)
- French Croix de Guerre with Palm
- Order of the Crown of Italy
- Honorary citizen of Salzburg and Linz, where many Dachau survivors were initially transported after the liberation of the camp.
[edit] Controversy
Recent writers have found fault with Collins and other officers who performed occupation duty after World War II, suggesting that they requisitioned luxury items, from the Hungarian Gold Train, for furnishing their offices and quarters -- items allegedly taken from Jewish families by the Nazis during the war. Many items were not returned to their original owners, who could not be located, but were later sold at auctions, with the proceeds used to aid war refugees.
[edit] Popular Culture
Was featured on the History Channel's segment of History's Mysteries on “GI Looting” during the Second World War.
