Military History

Percy is listed as having died of wounds on 27th May 1918 and was buried in a grave at Mont Notre Dame Municipal Cemetery before his remains were moved to Vailly in March 1923. He had originally been reported as wounded and missing on 27 May 1918.

The 25th Field Ambulance War Diary for the month of May 1918 carried the following message on the cover page "The war diary for the above unit [25th Field Ambulance] is not available for the month of May owing to it being lost in action. The 8th Division war diary shows that the 25th Field Ambulance was overrun by the enemy on the day that Percy died and states:

"Our line, often out of touch with adjacent formations, continued to fall back and, before midnight (27th May), Ventelay and Bouvancourt were in the hands of the enemy. So rapid was the enemy's advance that in the latter village the entire 25th Field Ambulance was captured. The village was surrounded before the Ambulance knew that any danger existed! Subsequently the O.C. Lieut.-Colonel T. P. Puddicombe, D.S.O., and another officer, Lieut. Kelly, an American doctor, managed to escape and to regain our lines."

Leamington Courier Obituary - February 14th 1919

Mrs. Percy W. Collins of 4, King Street, Leamington, has now received official notice from the British Red Cross Society that her husband, Pte. Collins, R.A.M.C., was killed in action on May 27th last.

Writing to Pte. Collins's mother, who resides at 19, Holly Walk, Leamington, Corporal A Booth (a prisoner of war recently repatriated) says: "Your son was with the Doctor, myself, and two other stretcher-bearers in a dug-out near the Bois de Bosche Wood, in the Champagne district, attending to the wounded, and we had to leave the dug-out owing to heavy shell-fire. Your son volunteered to show the way to the Field Ambulance, and we had to cross some land under heavy shell fire. It was whilst proceeding along the railway that I regret to have to say your son was hit, being killed instantaneously with shrapnel wound in the head. It may give you some consolation to know that he suffered no pain, and that he died doing his duty."

Before joining the R.A.M.C. he was employed by Burgis and Colbourne, Ltd [as a Van Driver].