The irony being that is a UK programme!

as is

https://www.popasmoke.com/stories/

I don't think the VHPA is much interested in accuracy SAS, had a chap erroneously stating he served with our unit on the VHPA site, I sent VHPA a message correcting, but no reply. Even posted a question regarding him here.

https://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/64...hlight=collins

Have sent Stu a message asking him to elaborate.

Re "Chikenhawk": Thought it an accurate account of typical events that took place, though not all to one chap, extremely good well written book I thought.

yes - remember it well. Had Walt written all over it.

Megan,

I rummaged around in the VHPA website....found the information you provided.

When I went to the Class Photos for 20-21 and 70-25....I did not see Collins mentioned in the class photos that are on file.

That does not confirm or deny he was a member of those Classes as there might not be a Photo for his Platoon on file.

I did find his Bio to be very interesting.

I will reach out to a friend who spent his entire civilian career with Air Log and was a very senior Training Captain.....and see if he can help in this.

After I make contact with him I shall post the results of our conversation.

The Obit contents was submitted by someone upon his death.

If he was a long time member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post....my suspicion is if he was not authentic he would have been rumbled by the members of that Post.

In order to be a member of the VFW....one must provide a copy of DOD Form DD-214 which is your Discharge Document that contains entries that depict your service in the Military and that one document alone confirms the details of your service to include Unit Assignment, Duties, Ranks, type of Discharge, dates of service.....and lots more.

His Class numbers are those of Warrant Officer Classes....and in those days you graduated from Flight School as a WO-1 and one year later you moved up a notch to Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CW2).

I could not find a web page for the 135th that has any list of Unit Members.

I did find this while doing a search....and it just confirms the VHPA Died After Tour (DAT) entry as they are identical.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...erbert-collins

Some observations.......

"London University", does not really exist. It's a complex history, but basically there are a number of different institutions that award 'University of London degrees', and typically, if asked, an alumnus would say they went to one of those institutions by name. e.g. Kings College (London), Imperial College, Queen Mary's College etc.

"He joined the British Army from 1955 to 1957, where he served his country honorably earning the British General Service Medal and Suez Medal." There is no official 'Suez Medal'. The GSM for service in the Suez (or clasp for existing GSM holders) was awarded retrospectively in the early 2000s, following active lobbying by campaigners and Members of Parliament. It is only awarded to those who served in the Canal Zone from 1951-1954, so the dates do not work either.

"Clive, a true patriot, volunteered for the United States Army in 1969 and served for 11 years, including a tour in Vietnam as a Helicopter Pilot ". A non-US National can only join the US Military as an enlisted serviceman - not as a Warrant or Commissioned officer.

Generally, one enlisted in the US Army as a Private (pay grade E-1). attended Basic Infantry Training (BCT) at Fort Polk, Louisiana (nearest BCT site to Fort Wolters, Texas), perhaps got promoted to the knightly rank of Prvate E-2, then proceeded to Preflight and Primary Flight Training at Fort Wolters, Texas. Upon beginning the Warrant Officer Flight Training one was promoted to Specialist E-5 (Temporary) for the duration of Flight training.

One member of my Class was Irish.. and another was a Canadian.

Upon completion of flight training we were issued a Warrant by the Secretary of the Army and the Rank of Warrant Officer One (W-1). One year later....we were promoted to Chief Warrant Officer (CW-2).

We had to be Officers to be Pilots....so we got promoted to W-1 one day...and the next day we received our Wings and Orders designating us as Army Aviators.

The Warrant Officer concept was used as the Army was limited by Congress to a certain fixed number of Officers and to meet the manning requirements of Army Aviation for Pilots....there was no way to do that had we been Commissioned Officers.

Warrant Officers In the US Military are Officers....not Enlisted Troops and fall between the Senior NCO ranks and the lowest Commissioned Officer Rank.

Woe be it if a brand new 2nd Lieutenant tries to pull rank on a CW4 (or now CW-5).

Maybe they were dual nationals - quite possible with those nationalities and potential US ties? Or, maybe the rules were different then. Certainly for quite some time (not the first time I checked) a non-national cannot be promoted above the enlisted ranks.

Ever hear of Rick Rescorla?

He enlisted in the US Army then attended Officer Candidate School and became a Commissioned Officer, fought at the Ia Drang with the Seventh Nav under Colonel Hal Moore....and did not receive his US Citizenship until AFTER his Combat Tour in Vietnam....retired as a Colonel and died on 9-11 getting his fellow Morgan Stanley employees out of the World Trade Center.

https://militaryhallofhonor.com/hono...rd.php?id=2032

According to the enlistment site goarmy.com the current rule is that permanent US residents (Green Card holders) are eligible to be enlisted soldiers or officers.

The guy in question was a member of the US Army, have a copy of the 1972 US Army Register, he joined up 29 Apr 69, made WO1 24 Aug 70, made temp CW2 20 Aug 71, just don't know where he served, it certainly wasn't with my unit as he states.