SOLDIER OF FORTUNE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 286, 4 December 1933, Page 12

SOLDIER OF FORTUNE

MAN WHO LED THE TURK?. DINNER WITH LORD ALLENBf Thes world’s greatest soldier of fortune recently arrived in London. He. is General Rafael de Nogales. Very soon he will be off again, to finish a man-size revolution that he left uncompleted 19 years ago in Venezuela. He left that revolution at the call of a much bigger adventure—the war. Men who fought in the East will remember the genera] as Nogales Bey. 1 1 hen ho was leading the Turks against, the British; he was, in fact, the last Christian commander to remain in the peninsula, though Lord Allenby was fast on his heels. That was typical of Nogales. Wherever there has been trouble and adventure in the world during the last 30 odd years Nogales has managed to find his way into it. He started with the Spanish American War in 1898, on the side of Spain. Thon there were exciting spells in gold rushes in the Klondike: in the American cattle country’s cowpunching business; in Mexico’s revolution business. But there is one thing this man of many nations stands firmly by—his nationality. His one regret is that he has never in his world-wide wanderings fought under the banner of his own country. "I am a Venezuelan.” he said, in telling his story. "1 was born in Venezuela, and I am a patriot. Soon 1 am going back to my country. This time I ain going to finish that revolution. ” • Many of Nogales’ friends in London now are men he first saw in the enemy trenches outside Gaza. But he does not bear malice. "I am entitled to wear the Iron Cross of Germany, first class, a thing very few foreigners are allowed to do, but what do those things matter? I have dined with Lord Allenby here in London," he said. General Rafael de Nogales, soldier of fortune, chuckled. "Soon Igo back to my own country ..." he Raid.