Rupert Wilkinson (18 May 1938, in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

– 21 December 2014) was a British historian specializing in the history of the United States. He is perhaps best known to the general public for his book, '' Surviving a Japanese Internment Camp''. Wilkinson's 2014 book, ''Surviving a Japanese Internment Camp: Life and Liberation at Santo Tomás, Manila, in World War II,'' was both a memoir of his own childhood incarceration during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, and a formally researched and highly respected history of the

Santo Tomas Internment Camp Santo Tomas Internment Camp, also known as the Manila Internment Camp, was the largest of several camps in the Philippines in which the Japanese interned enemy civilians, mostly Americans, in World War II. The campus of the University of Santo To ...

Childhood

Wilkinson was the son of Gerald and Lorna (nee Davies) Wilkinson. The family moved to the Philippines when he was a child. His father worked for a sugar company, but joined the British Army when World War II began, working as a liaison between the United States Commander in the Philippines, General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...

and the British forces. When the Japanese conquered Manila, Gerald Wilkinson was able to flee with the British forces, but his wife, Lorna, son Rupert and daughter Mary June spend three years interned in a Japanese camp.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Rupert 1938 births 2014 deaths British historians Historians of World War II British World War II prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by Japan British expatriates in the Philippines