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WWI veteran’s flag given to Legion post that bears his name
CLOVERDALE — A relic of a World War I hero could have remained tucked away somewhere in an Iowa basement.
Instead, it has fittingly found its way to Lee Roy Collins’ hometown and the American Legion post that bears his name.
When Keith Collins’ father Lee Roy died in 2014, the son knew a bit of his father’s West Central Indiana roots.
“My dad would come back here when he was a young man for reunions,” Keith, of Waverly, Iowa, recalled. “My grandpa Clarence was from here and met my grandmother in Iowa and settled.”
Keith was also aware that his father had an uncle — also named Lee Roy — who had died in action during World War I. However, that was just about the end of it, as the elder Lee Roy Collins was killed more than three years before his namesake was even born.
So it was with some surprise that while going through his late father’s possessions, Keith found an old American flag tucked away.
“There was a note with the flag that said it was a part of Lee Roy Collins’ flag when he was buried in Cloverdale,” Keith said. “I had no idea about the flag.”
The flag had at one point been in the possession of Keith’s grandfather Clarence before he passed it down to his son.
“So my dad got it because he was named Lee Roy but he never got it out and showed it to us,” Keith said.
Trying to figure out what to do with the flag, Keith got an even bigger surprise when he called the Cloverdale American Legion post, more commonly known as Hurst-Collins American Legion Post 281.
“I thought, maybe I could give it to the Legion here in Cloverdale,” Keith Collins said. “I had no idea when I called that it was the Hurst-Collins Post.”
Indeed it is the Hurst-Collins Post, named for two southern Putnam County natives who died while serving their country during World War I.
Pvt. Clyde A. Hurst, 27, died stateside, succumbing to pneumonia on Oct. 12, 1918.
More than two months earlier, Cpl. Lee Roy Collins, 24, had died in northeastern France during the Battle of the Ourcq.
The Ourcq was part of an offensive in which the Allies retook land the Germans had taken during the spring of 1918. Fighting was heavy along the banks of the River Ourcq, with Collins’ 42nd Rainbow Division taking heavy losses over the course of four days before finally taking the village of Sergy on the far side of the river.
The capture of Sergy as well as a pair of hills on either side of the town finally sent the German Army into retreat.
Lee Roy Collins wasn’t there to celebrate the victory, having died on the first day of battle, the victim of a German shell. The concussion of the blast threw him from the horse he was riding, though he showed no obvious external signs of injury.
“It was reported that he was not wounded by shell fragments and that instant death was caused by concussion; his body being taken away by a French ambulance,” a letter from the American Red Cross to Lee Roy’s sister Stella reported.
But how had an Indiana boy come to be there in northeastern France -- a member of the Minnesota National Guard, Battery A, 151st Field Artillery?
Lee Roy was living in Minneapolis when he enlisted and was shipped overseas in October 1917, meeting his final end nine months later.
He was initially buried in France as the “War to End All Wars” ground to a close in November 1918. Then his body was shipped back to Cloverdale for final burial in July 1921.
The flag that adorned Lee Roy’s casket that day passed through the generations of the Collins family until Keith Collins found it four years ago.
Once he made contact with the Legion in Cloverdale and found out its name, Keith knew he had found the right place for his great-uncle’s flag.
“Why tuck it away in some basement? Why not put it somewhere that people know what it means and can appreciate it?” Keith asked.
So a date was set, just a few weeks past the 100th anniversary of Lee Roy’s death, and Legion members and Collins family members gathered this past Saturday for the presentation.
“I bring it here with a feeling of awe of his sacrifice,” Keith Collins said.
Family members came from as near as Cloverdale and as far as Michigan or Iowa.
One great-great-nephew, Maj. Chris Collins, came from Ft. Riley, Kan., where he remains an active member of the U.S. Army.
“My grandfather served, my father served, my mother has served,” the 23-year veteran said of the family tradition.
Maj. Collins began researching Lee Roy’s story in 2009 and is the main reason the family knows as much as it does about his story.
“My parents always had a picture of him and his unit in our rec room and now I have it,” Maj. Collins said.
“Chris has done a lot of research and fueled our family’s knowledge of someone we did not know,” Keith Collins said.
Between Maj. Collins’ research and family and military memorabilia from Keith Collins and cousin Wally Fraizer, a nice, little tribute to Lee Roy was available even before the official presentation of the flag to the post.
Keith was surprised by his emotions when he passed the flag to Post Commander Aaron Howard.
“I’ve never unfolded it. I’m assuming it has 48 stars on it. I’ll let you folks unfold it,” Keith said, getting a bit choked up.
“I’m emotional and I don’t know why.”
Howard was also touched by Lee Roy’s sacrifice.
“We are extremely honored to receive this,” Howard said. “I want to make sure it is displayed in a way that honors him and makes sure everyone sees it.”
Besides the flag, Keith Collins also presented Lee Roy’s rainbow pin, representative of his service with the 42nd Rainbow Division, and an Indian Head penny found in his pocket when he died.
Past Commander Jim Whited was also honored for the post to now have a physical representation of one of the its two namesakes.
“And it’s quite an honor for our post to receive this,” Whited said. “It’d be great if we could hunt down the family of Clyde Hurst.”
