Percy Saunders

Percival Kitchener Saunders (9 July 1916 – 2–3 March 1942) was an English professional footballer who played in the Football League for Sunderland and Brentford as an inside forward.^[1][3]

Percy Saunders

Personal information
Full name	Percival Kitchener Saunders[1]
Date of birth	9 July 1916
Place of birth	Newhaven, England
Date of death	2–3 March 1942 (aged 25)[2]
Place of death	SS Rooseboom, Indian Ocean
Position(s)	Inside forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
0000–1936	Newhaven
1936–1939	Sunderland	20	(6)
1939	Brentford	0	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Personal life

Saunders was a sergeant in the 18th Divisional Workshops, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, during the Second World War.^[2] He served in the Far East and in late February 1942, shortly before the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, he was evacuated from Emmahaven on the SS Rooseboom.^[4] The ship was headed for Bombay when it was torpedoed in the Indian Ocean on the night of 2–3 March 1942.^[4] Saunders was killed and his name is listed on the Kranji War Memorial.^[2] Saunders was the only former member of the Brentford and Sunderland squads to lose his life during the war.^[4] In December 2014, Saunders and other Sunderland players who lost their lives during the two world wars were commemorated with a statue outside the Stadium of Light.^[5]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Sunderland	1937–38[6]	First Division	15	6	0	0	—		15	6
	1938–39[7]	First Division	5	0	0	0	1[a]	1	6	1
Career total			20	6	0	0	1	1	21	7

1. Appearance in Durham Senior Cup

See also

• List of footballers killed during World War II