Raoul Lufbery, the Connecticut Boy Who Roamed the World to Die a Hero
in France
The Great War brought into bold relief no more romantic figure or
daring spirit than that of Major Raoul Lufbery, from Wallingford, Conn.
The bare facts of his life have the flavor of incidents taken from the
adventure story of a highly imaginative fiction writer. There is no
need of invention or added color to make his history a thrilling tale.
No presentation of it, however bald and commonplace the narrative, can
cheat it of its romance and heroism. That he was one of the chief of
the American “Aces” is in itself an epitome of adventure that might
easily be elaborated into a volume.
Lufbery was an adventurer in the dashing sense of the word. His blood
was filled with the essence of unrest, the energy of motion that would
not let him stay fixed to place. When he was seventeen years old
Wallingford held him too much cabined and confined. He ran away from
home as an explorer of the unknown world. Drawn, perhaps, by the spell
of ancestral affinities, he made his way to France and wandered from
place to place in the land of legend and romance, working at any job
that would provide his keep and supply him with funds for his next
excursion.
From France he sailed to Algiers, where he remained till he had
satisfied his interest, when he set off for other scenes—Egypt, the
Balkans, Germany, South America and then back to Wallingford for a peep
at the home folks. He chuckled appreciatively on learning that his
father was off doing a bit of globe-vagabonding on his own account.
[Illustration:
© _Press Illustrating Service._