History
Goodnight, Providence
In 1938, in Providence, Rhode Island, John “Johnny” Bejian was a 17-year-old with a very specific dream. Most of his friends wanted to be as talented as the phenomenal baseball player Joe DiMaggio, as famous […]
Articles by John Dekhane
History
Memorial Day in Fresno
Every year, on Memorial Day, many Armenian Americans travel to Ararat Armenian Cemetery in Fresno, California, to visit their deceased loved ones and honor the heroes who gave their lives for our freedom. By walking […]
History
The Man Who Fell Out of the Sky
On February 19, 1945 in Germany, a 13-year-old girl was standing outside her parents’ farmhouse when she looked up at the sky and saw something that would haunt her for the rest of her life. […]
History
The Man Who Refused to Die
On December 12, 1908, in Chicago, Illinois, a beautiful baby named Sam Kazar Harootenian was born. This little boy looked like an ordinary baby, sounded like an ordinary baby and behaved like an ordinary baby, […]
History
Beyond Courage
On August 10, 1916, in Richmond, Virginia, birds were singing and the sun was shining when Ernest Herbert Dervishian took his first breath. His parents Hagop and Mary were Armenian refugees who were forced to […]
History
Choices and Chances
Born on September 23, 1925, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Haig Sarafian was the only child of Puzant Sarafian and Elizabeth Kistorian, two Armenian refugees who had no other choice than to leave their beloved land. Puzant […]
History
Paving the Way
In June 1944, in London (England), General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, was making the final decisions about the D-Day Invasion of Normandy, and she was there. In December 1944, in Versailles […]
History
Too Young to Die
On December 24, 1924, when the rest of the world was celebrating Christmas Eve, Charles and Mary Terzian, an Armenian couple living in Los Angeles, California, were celebrating the birth of twins—Samuel and Dorothy. Like […]
History
Peter Ovian: A Son, A Rock, A Hero
The story of Peter Ovian begins in 1923 in Whitinsville, a small village in Massachusetts, and ends 20 years later in Dinozé, a small village in northeastern France. It starts with an adorable boy playing […]
History
Divine Providence
Harry Kizirian’s story began 95 years ago, on July 13, 1925, at 134 Chad Brown Street in Providence, Rhode Island. The first cry of this newborn baby was the sweetest sound to his parents’ ears. […]