Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Cumming VC (1896-1971)
A. E Cumming, 3rd Battalion, 12th Frontier Force Regiment. NAM 1993-01-150-1
‘By his outstanding gallantry, initiative and devotion to duty, he was largely instrumental in the safe withdrawal of the Brigade’. - VC citation in The London Gazette, 20 February 1942
VC and medal group awarded to Arthur Cumming. NAM 1988-08-81
On 3 January 1942, near Kuantan, Malaya, the rear guard position of Lieutenant-Colonel Cummings’ unit came under attack. He led a party of men in an immediate counter-attack. Despite receiving two bayonet wounds in the stomach, he succeeded in restoring the situation sufficiently for most of the Battalion and its vehicles to be withdrawn. He was again wounded twice while driving under heavy fire to rescue isolated troops. Cumming was awarded the first of only two Victoria Crosses presented to British officers of the Indian Army during the Second World War (1939-1945).
After the fall of Singapore in February 1942, Cumming led a party of officers through enemy lines in an escape by boat to Sumatra. He was also awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his distinguished services in the Malayan campaign.
Cumming had earlier received the Military Cross (MC) for bravery in Palestine in 1918, this making him a hero in two World Wars.
