NOTED SOLDIER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23218, 12 December 1938, Page 13

NOTED SOLDIER

SERVICE AT WEST POINT GENERAL W. D. CONNOR PLANS FRUSTRATED BY WARS "I have started three times previously to visit India, and each time there has been a war and I have had to cancel my plans, so I hope that things will be better this time," said Major-General W. D. Connor, former superintendent and commandant of the United States Military Academy at West Point, who arrived by the Aorangi last night to pay a brief visit' to New Zealand. General Connor is accompanied by Mrs. Connor. "The first time I intended going to India was in 1901, when the Boxer Rebellion occurred/' General Connor said. "The next time, in 1916, I was in the Philippines, and the United States entered the Great War. The third occasion was in 1924, while I was in command of the American forces in China, and-civil war broke out."

MAJOR-GENERAL W. D. CONNOR Although he has retired from tlxe army, General Connor said that he was not at liberty to discuss the international situation or matters of defence. He said that it was impossible to foretell what the attitude of the United States would be in the event of a world war. It depended entirely upon the trend of events. General Connor ; who intends to travel to India after spending a week in the North Island of New Zealand, had had a distinguished military career. He served in the Philippine campaign and during the Filipino insurrection in 1898, commanded a division and held various staff posts during the Great War, and was United States army commander in China before being appointed to West Point. He was awarded the United States D.S.M., and is the holder of both British and French decorations.