He led a North Dakota National Guard artillery battalion in Normandy in 1944, and served as the U.S. Army Chief of Military History from 1970 to 1982.

[2] Joseph Lawton Collins (1896–1987), who served as Chief of Staff of the Army during the Korean War, was his uncle.

[1] On 1 July 1935, Collins entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where his father was a graduate of the Class of 1907.

[4] The 957th landed in France at Utah beach on 13 June 1944, and operated in support of divisions of VII Corps,[6] which was commanded by his uncle.

[1][4] Collins served with the Military Assistance Advisory Group in London from February 1951 to December 1952, and at SHAPE from 1953 to 1954.

[12] The citation for the medal reads: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Brigadier General James Lawton Collins, Jr. (ASN: 0-21788), United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility with Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, in the Republic of Vietnam, during the period from September 1964 to May 1966.

[13]Collins retired from the Army as a brigadier general in 1970, but was recalled to active duty as Chief of Military History.

He was also a member of the International Commission of Military Historians that investigated the wartime of Kurt Waldheim, former President of Austria and Secretary-General of the United Nations.

[15] The Brigadier General James L. Collins Book Prize for Military History was named in his honor.