Col J. Quincy Collins, Jr., USAF

Class of 1953

Hometown: Charlotte, NC

Distinguished Alumnus Photo

  • Collins was forced to eject over North Vietnam while on TDY with the 36th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Takhli Royal Thai AFB, Thailand, on September 2, 1965.  He suffered severe injuries of the head, leg and arms on ejection.  Collins was immediately captured and held as a Prisoner of War for the next 2,721 days before being released on February 12, 1973. During his time as a POW, he endured constant torture at the infamous Hoa Lo Prison, a.k.a. Hanoi Hilton, and labeled as "incorrigible" by the North Vietnamese.  Collins was the longest held POW of any Citadel alumnus and one of the longest held in American history.  At the risk of extreme torture, he courageously wrote a patriotic song on bathroom tissue using his own blood as ink that was sung by all the POWs in 1972, during a prison uprising, and again at a Nixon White House reception for POW's in 1973.  While a POW, he was a "cellmate" of John McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee for President.
  • Collins entered the Air Force after graduating from The Citadel and accumulated over 3,000 hours with a Command Pilot rating.  His Air Force career, included opening the new Air Force Academy in 1955 as an Air Training Officer, and serving as Aide to the Four Star Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Air Forces in Europe.  Collins was awarded the Silver Star while serving as Air Operations Officer, 6441st Tactical Fighter Wing, for action in Southeast Asia, on 2 September 1965, and a second award for gallantry as a POW for 7 and 1/2 years.  He retired as a full Colonel in 1974, and ran for Congress in the 7th District of Georgia in 1974 and again in 1976. For 22 years he was a commercial and industrial real estate broker, and a Senior Vice President of Southern Real Estate in Charlotte.