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Collins is one-man Pearl Harbor parade
By Derek Hodges
Sylva's Bill Collins, a survivor of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, will mark this Tuesday's 63rd anniversary as he has every year since he returned to Western North Carolina. He will put on his Army uniform and hold a one-man parade around Sylva.
Local Pearl Harbor survivor Bill Collins remembers the headlines of "WAR!" in the newspapers the day after Japanese warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor. He was stationed at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, and witnessed the attack firsthand. – Herald photo by Derek Hodges
Collins remembers a song that was popular in 1941, just before the United States entered World War II, called I'll Be Back in a Year, Little Darling. That song was a big part of Collins' enlisting in the U.S. Army in June of that year.
"I'll be back in a year, little darling,
Uncle Sam has called and I must go.
I'll be back in a year, little darling,
You'll be proud of your soldier boy, I know."
When he decided to enlist, Collins had no idea that he would serve his country for four years, not one. Nor did he know that the Japanese would attack the U.S. a short time after he signed up. He certainly didn't know that he would witness the sneak attack that shocked the world and catapulted the country into World War II.
 When Collins left Pumpkintown community, the idea of military service seemed ordinary. Even his detail at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, was no problem. The outfit he was assigned to was once called the "laziest" a certain soldier from Louisiana had ever seen. Service just didn't seem like a big deal to Collins, especially not with the chorus of that song still ringing in his ears.
"I just figured I would serve my year and be done with it," he said.
When Collins left his house that June, it was the last time he would be home for four years. During that time he would receive a "Dear John" letter from the woman he had left behind, spend 44 months overseas and see things he said he could have done without seeing.
Make no mistake about it, Collins is proud of his service to his country. In addition to his tradition of wearing his uniform on Dec. 7, he also dons it for Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Independence Day, and every time the Scotts Creek Baptist Church choir sings a patriotic song. He would have had his picture made it in that uniform, but the pants were being hemmed, he said.
Collins also displays a "Pearl Harbor Survivor" license tag on his car, something he said gets him a lot of thanks from people who notice it.
Despite his pride in his service record, Collins still dislikes the harsh realities of combat life.
The destruction he witnessed firsthand at Pearl Harbor was worse than what the world saw on television Sept. 11, 2001, Collins said.
In the aftermath of the attack, he and his fellow soldiers were positioned right across from the harbor. They watched the USS Arizona burn for three days before it finally sank.
"You knew there were a lot of men on it. You didn't feel good at all," he said.
Despite the United States having a strong military presence on Hawaii at the time, Collins said they were unprepared for the kind of attack they saw. Collins' service unit was told that the greatest threat to the installations on Hawaii was sabotage – someone sneaking onto the base and destroying the planes that were parked in a neat line on the tarmac.
"They didn't dream that (the Japanese) would come by air," he said.
An article published in The Sylva Herald on Dec. 6, 1956, described the attack and U.S. entry into the war:
"Danger and War had opened the deathly door of Chance. A lot of blood was to be spilled on foreign soil before Victory opened her arms to allied forces."
Collins was there during the American invasion of Saipan, an island in the Marianas held by the Japanese. He saw enough combat to make him wary of it for the rest of his life.
"I think the majority of combat veterans were against this war we're in now. When you've been in combat you know that it's easier to talk than to fight, and I think most of the time we could talk things out," he said.
Though his wife, Polly, has visited the memorial at Pearl Harbor, he said he still hasn't been. He just can't bring himself to do it.
"It's just too tough," he said.
He fears that young people today don't recognize the magnitude of sacrifice required to win the second World War.
"Maybe some of them don't even know there even was a Pearl Harbor," he said.
Despite the difficult life he led as a combat soldier, Collins said he still has some good memories of his service time.
"I met some mighty good people there," he said, though, at age 90, he has outlived most of them.
During his service Collins was awarded the American Defense Medal with one Bronze Star, the Asiatic-Pacific Medal with two Bronze Stars and the Good Conduct Medal.
After he was discharged, Collins went to work for the Navy as a cook for a group of sailors stationed at Hiawassee Dam. When that group left the area he became owner-operator of the Maple Springs Cafe. He's better known around Sylva for the 37 years he spent as co-owner of The Coffee Shop.
He is retired now, living with his wife on Monteith Branch in Sylva, though he still stops by The Coffee Shop pretty much every day. He is the father of two, Stephen of Whittier and Dr. Janet Berman of California, grandfather of five, and a great–grandfather three times over.
While modesty compels him to say he doesn't know if he has much wisdom to share, he does have some common sense advice.
"Be good, that's all," he said.
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