Serving with the rank of Staff Sergeant in the 4th Field Regiment, New Zealand Artillery,[2] Perkins was among the British Commonwealth troops that were evacuated to Crete after the German invasion of Greece in April 1941.
[3] After spending a year hiding in the mountains of Western Crete, he departed to Egypt on board a Greek submarine.
[1] Upon reaching Egypt, he joined the Special Operations Executive and returned to Crete as a SOE agent.
But unlike other agents who only served as liaisons, Perkins assembled his own guerrilla band and led it in many attacks against the Germans.
[1] Perkins was killed in a German ambush near the village of Lakkoi and is buried in Suda Bay War Cemetery.