Arthur Edward Cumming

Led a counterattack and covered retreat despite his injuries

Arthur Edward Cumming was born in Karachi on 18 June 1896. He served in Mesopotamia during the First World War and earned the Military Cross. On 3 January 1942 near Kuantan, Malaya, Lieutenant Colonel Cumming led a small counterattack as his brigade withdrew. Despite four wounds, he drove a carrier under fire to collect isolated soldiers and refused to leave until no others remained. After recovering in Singapore, he commanded a composite Jat battalion. The Victoria Cross and George Cross Association records that he escaped after Singapore fell on 15 February 1942, leading fellow officers through enemy lines and reaching Sumatra before sailing from Padang to Colombo. He subsequently commanded the 63rd Indian Infantry Brigade in Burma and the Dehra Dun Sub-Area in India. He retired as a brigadier in 1947, served as Superintendent of Police at Kyrenia, Cyprus, from 1956 to 1959, and died in Edinburgh on 10 April 1971.

Official Victoria Cross citation (London Gazette, 20 February 1942): On the 3rd January, 1942, in Malaya, a strong force of the enemy penetrated the position while Brigade Headquarters and a Battalion were being withdrawn. Lieutenant-Colonel Cumming with a small party of men immediately counter-attacked the enemy and prevented any further penetration of the position until his whole party had become casualties, and he himself had received two bayonet wounds in the stomach. By this brave counter-attack Lieutenant-Colonel Cumming enabled the major portion of our men and vehicles to be withdrawn. Later, in spite of pain and weakness from his wounds, this officer drove in a carrier for more than an hour under very heavy fire collecting isolated detachments of our men. He then received two further wounds, after which and while attempting to collect a further isolated detachment, he lost consciousness and the driver of the carrier attempted to evacuate him. Lieutenant-Colonel Cumming, however, recovered consciousness and insisted on remaining where he was until he discovered that he and his driver were the sole survivors in the locality. He then decided to retire. By his outstanding gallantry, initiative and devotion to duty, he was largely instrumental in the safe withdrawal of the Brigade.