- Born
- Died
- Birth nameArthur Ernest Percival
- Arthur Ernest Percival was born in Aspenden, Hertfordshire, England on 26 December 1887. He was educated at Rugby School and worked in London with Naylor, Benzon & Company Limited from 1907-1914.
He was wounded in France in World War I and continued to serve in the army, finally being appointed General Officer Commanding Malaya. He surrendered to the Japanese on February 15, 1942 on Sentosa Island, Singapore and spent the rest of the Second World War in captivity in Manchuria.
He retired in 1946 and published a book, 'The War in Malaya', which was printed in 1949. He died on 31 January 1966.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Aubrey Leong
- SpouseMargaret Elizabeth "Betty" MacGregor(July 27, 1927 - 1956) (her death, 2 children)
- On 15 February 1942, he surrendered Singapore to Lieutenant-General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Imperial Japanese Army. 130,000 Allied personnel surrendered to less than 30,000 Japanese. He was held prisoner in Manchuria until the end of World War II.
- Was present at the surrender of Japan at Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945 on board the USS Missouri.
- In 1916, as a first lieutenant, he went with the Bedfordshire Regiment to France for the Battle of Somme, and won the Military Cross.
- After the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940, he commanded the 44th Division, protecting the English coast.
- He was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 1921 for his services to the military.
- In going to Malaya I realized that there was the double danger either of being left in an inactive command for some years if war did not break out in the East or, if it did, of finding myself involved in a pretty sticky business with the inadequate forces which are usually to be found in the distant parts of our Empire in the early stages of a war.
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