Andrés Pereda was a Spanish Army lieutenant who served in the Army of Africa in Morocco during the Rif War of the 1920s. In 1921, he became engaged to the aristocrat Julia Ballester y Gómez de Rozas shortly before he was deployed to Melilla, and they planned to marry once he returned in the autumn. However, Pereda went missing during the June 1921 Battle of Annual, and he was gravely wounded by an artillery round; Julia's brother and Pereda's comrade Pedro Ballester attempted to search for Pereda, but he could not find him.