Willard Allen Hawkins was born in North Little Rock and entered service as an aviation cadet in 1940 following his graduation from the University of Arkansas. He served as a Bombardier and an armaments officer in World War II, seeing action in India, the Middle East, and the Mariana Islands, where he was with the 20th Air Force at the conclusion of the war. He was recognized with two awards of the Air Force Commendation Medal. After the war, he remained in the Air Force reserve while building a public relations business. In civilian life, he served as president of the Arkansas Reserve Officers Association and president of the David D. Terry chapter of the Air Force Association, which he helped organize.

During the Little Rock school integration crisis of the late 1950s, he facilitated peaceful justice and civil rights within the downtown business district of Little Rock. This was documented by John Kirk, chair of the history department at UALR, in an Arkansas Times article last year. In 1961, Hawkins was awarded the Merrill Medal of Merit by the Air Force Association for their public relations program. In 1970, he received the Freedom Foundation's George Washington Honor Medal. He earned two awards of the Legion of Merit in 1968 and 1972 for his service and as the director of the Arkansas Selective Service System, where he created the first fully integrated draft system in the country, eventually reaching the rank of Colonel.

Hawkins was a member of the National Press Club, served on the executive committee of M. Everetts American Legion Post One, and was part of the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council. He also worked on the staff of two Arkansas governors, Sid McMath and Winthrop Rockefeller. He was the executive director of Downtown Little Rock Unlimited for five years.