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FRIDAY/SATUROAY
NOVEMBER 10/11, 2006
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From Army to GBI agent t 0...
By NANCY HAWK
Journal Staff Writer
The history of our country
is loaded with phrases, cute,'
dramatic or even strange
that describe “the American
Warfighter.” A man who eons
ago spoke to and about Ben
Collins is Aristotle, when he
said.” We make war that we
may live in peace.”
Collins works in Perry but
he was born in Newnan, Dooly
County. He is currently a mem
ber of B Company, 2nd Battalion
121st infantry of Cordele for the
Army National Guard.
Collins went to basic training
at Fort McClellan in Alabama,
and then went to school as
a military policeman, also at
McClellan.
That wasn’t too far from Dooly
County, but that soon changed
with his change of station.
Collins was regular Army for
four years. As a single man in
Heidelberg, Germany, there
were many opportunities and
he could have stayed in, but that
was not the future he said he
had in mind.
When first meeting Collins
you are addressed by a man of
some professional bearing. He
is a person who immediately
takes your hand and offers a
smile while remaining in charge
James D.
Burch
Hpre is his story: “My
name is James D. Burch
and I live on Houston
Lake Road in Kathleen.
I am a veteran, having
served in the Army and
the Air Force from March
1946 to September 1947.
“I was old enough to
enter service in 1943, but
I was so little (97 pounds)
that they would not take
me. I tried to join both the
Army and the Navy to no
avail.
“(Then) I was called
up in the draft every six
months and finally in 1946
I gained enough to weigh
102 lbs. Then they took
me. I received basic train
ing at Amarillo, Texas,
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Submitted
Gene R. Salyer, middle of the first row, is shown during his time as leader of the
Moods in Blue show band.
Gene R. Salyer
Salyer is now a resident of Houston Springs in Perry. He retired from the Air Force
as a chief master sergeant in 1979, after serving 22 years in the Band Career Field.
During his tenure, he was stationed at Scott AFB, 111., Chanute AFB 111., Lackland
AFB, Texas and Amarillo AFB, Texas, where he played clarinet, alto sax, tenor sax
and flute in the field bands.
In 1966, he auditioned and was accepted at the AF Academy Band, where he served
from 1965 until his retirement.
He played with the Falconnaires Dance Band and had leadership of the Moods in
Blue show band.
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Ben Collins
of the situation. He is a mem
ber of the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation, Perry Office.
In fact, the Collins family is
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Submitted
Picture taken on Okinawa,
1947.
then transferred to Boca
Raton, Fa., to attend radar
school.
But they closed the
school so I was trans
ferred to Kedima AFB on
Okinawa.
“I was on Okinawa
from September 1946 to
Special
one whose service to the com
munity has been in law enforce
ment for a long time. As far as
Ben Collins, working with the
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September 1947, where
I worked as an aircraft
engine mechanic.
“I’m married to my
sweetheart of 57 years and
have three children, eight
grandchildren and two
great-grandchildren.”
Sheriffs department south of
Atlanta he accepted a position
as a GBI agent in 1993.
This was the first of his
career moves in the GBI. He
next accepted special training
as a narcotics agent. In that
capacity, he went through yet
another boot camp to in order
to meet the standards that the
GBI operates by.
Career set, married to a “won
derful” wife, named Robyn,
and a son over a year old, why
would anyone join the National
Guard?
“I am a professional who
believes in giving back to my
country. A country that gave me
so much ...” Collins said, eru
dite as he continued to explain,
’’The men who fought in World
War 11, were gone for years.
Eighteen months is little for my
country to ask of me. We (our
country) are based on that sacri
fice and the sacrifices after that,
which is reality.”
Then, he delved deeper into
the facts of his personal sacri
fices.
“I lost my father and my
father-in-law to cancer while I
was assigned to Baghdad,” he
said. “It was a rough time to
work through; duty and respon
sibility to a unit of people far
away, duty and responsibility to
my family here at home.
Journal/Nancy Hawk
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Horace Woodruff of Perry signed up
for service in the U.S. Navy a month
and three days after the bombing of
Pearl Harbor, on Jan. 10, 1942.
“I was blessed to go in as a First Class
Petty Officer,” he says, ‘and served at
the Charleston S.C. Navy yard in the
office of Naval Officer Procurement for
18 months, and in Knoxville Tennessee,
before being assigned to the aircraft
carrier U.S. Mission Bay.
Cornelius Vance Jr., lives in Perry.
A retired master sergeant, he served
in the Army from January 1977 until
February 2002.
After completing basic training at
Fort Dix in New Jersey and Advanced
Individual Training at Fort Lee in
Virginia as a Materiel Supply man
(76D10), Vance’s travels took him to a
myriad of assignments.
He was stationed at Fort
Stewart; Yongsan Garrison, Korea;
Fort Riley, Kansas; Nuremberg/Fuerth,
Germany; West Berlin, Germany; the
Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and
Okinawa, Japan.
“I served as a prescribed load list, quick
supply and reparable exchange clerk,”
he said. “I held numerous leadership
Horace Woodruff then and now.
Horace Woodruff
Cornelius Vance Jr.
“Dad gave me an option, when
he came from the doctor’s office
one visit. He explained to me
that the doctor could write me
a letter, and let the Guard know
that he was sick.
I just shook my head. I told
dad ‘no.’ I told him he did not
raise me that way and as a sol
dier, ’I have to go.’”
Collins stayed through the
time allowed by the military,
then returned to Iraq.
This was the first deployment
to the Middle East Theater
for the Cordele Unit, he said.
“When Thanksgiving comes and
Christmas gifts are put away
there will still remain the feel
ing that every day is a lucky
day here in America,” he said.
“Every day is a day that you
share with a family and with
those you work with, because
you have worked not only to
keep the peace here at home,
but when you have done what
you can to make the world a
little safer.”
And making the world a little
safer has brought additional
rewards. Collins has been tapped
to possibly accept a greater roll
as an officer in the National
Guard. A believer in the things
that grow a home place for a
family and his nation, he will
again answer the call because
he believes.
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“We were engaged in anti-submarine
warfare against the Germans.”
Woodruff, who was born and grew
up in Perry, returned to Perry and has
lived here the rest of his life.
He and his wife now live in the
Gatwick Senior Community, and he
is actively involved in a First Baptist
Church ministry of visiting those who
are homebound, in nursing homes or
hospitals.
positions as supply branch and division
noncommissioned officer in charge, stock
and document control NCOIC: Squad
leader: platoon sergeant; exercise and
billeting NCOIC and plans and opera
tions NCOIC.”
Vance was also a graduate of the Basic
and Advanced Noncommissioned Officer
Course; Department of Defense Security
Specialist Course; Standard Property
Book Redesign; Defense Distribution
Management; Standard Army Retail
Supply, Army Precommissioned and
Supervisors Development Courses.
His greatest achievement, he said,
was earning two Meritorious Service
Medals, the Army Commendation Medal
and Achievement and Good Conduct
Medals.
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