A METHOD TO HIS MADNESS
The only thing Dutch about Raymond Paul Pierre Westerling was his blood. Born on Aug. 31, 1919, in the ancient city of Istanbul, where several generations of Westerling men had made their living as antique dealers, young Raymond showed signs of the adventurer he would become in adulthood. In his 1952 autobiography, Challenge to Terror, Westerling noted having spent his boyhood capturing snakes and lizards, gamboling with playmates through the merchant souks, experimenting with firearms and gunpowder, and reading everything from “stories of pirates, historical romances and Wild West adventures” to detective tales.
A precocious child who breezed through formal schooling, Westerling grew up in a cosmopolitan milieu—his father spoke English, French, German, Italian and Turkish, while his mother spoke French alongside her native Greek. By age 18 the young man was proficient in all of these languages. Ironically, the only tongue he couldn’t speak was Dutch, though he and his family were citizens of the Netherlands.
Westerling’s life turned far more adventurous in early 1941. Itching to see the world and experience life outside Istanbul, he visited the Dutch Consulate and enlisted in the Free Dutch Forces in exile, as the Netherlands was already under German occupation. His father doubted his headstrong son would accept military discipline. Embracing the challenge, Westerling (dubbed “The Turk,” due to his upbringing) resolved to get into the fight as soon as possible.
Over the course of the war he would pass through some of the British army’s toughest schools, including the Commando Basic Training Center in Achnacarry, Scotland, and serve with such legendary fighting units as No. 2 (Dutch) Troop
