The long journey for Souren Aprahamian from war-ravaged Turkish Armenia to safety and freedom in the United States was a long and torturous one.
During the first mass exodus from their home village of Lezk, Aprahamian's father died, leaving the youngster's mother to guide the family safely through the dangers of World War I.
The family returned home in 1916. Their house was intact, but vandals had found the hiding place of their stored valuables and everything was gone. However, they had brought back with them a donkey and an ox, and life in Lezk returned to fairly normal.
But it wasn't long until war intervened again and a second order to evacuate the village was issued because the Russian army had left.
Aprahamian writes in his autobiography, "After almost two weeks of tortuous, hellish suffering, we arrived in Shungavit, a town outside Yerevan."
They barely settled down in a camp there, however, when word came that the Russians had returned to occupy the Van region, making it safe from the Turks. But, once again, the reprieve was not longlasting. The Russian Bolshevik Revolution came in October 1917, and again Russian troops left the Van and Lezk areas.
Fighting broke out in the region and yet another evacuation was ordered for the populace, this one on March 21, 1918. After much hardship, the caravan made it to the Kodol Valley near the Caucasus. A treacherous bandit named Sumko, however, ran this region.
The caravan was moving through the valley on a balmy day when "the silence was shattered and a hailstorm of bullets drenched us," as Aprahamian writes. The bandits had begun a terrible slaughter, firing on the unprotected masses in the valley from the rim above.
Aprahamian and his family dove behind a huge boulder and then were ordered to cross the river. They were able to make it across. Dodging bullets, they climbed up the opposite side of the valley to relative safety.
Thousands died in the onslaught, many from enemy fire and some who drowned in the river crossing. Aprahamian writes, "Latecomers told us that they had to walk over the bodies of the fallen."
At the village of Sarin Kaleh, the Turks caught up with the caravan. Everyone dropped everything and ran for their lives. They made it to Tazakand and the British army. There, trucks took them to the safety of refugee camps.
They remained two years in the tent city. An Arab rebellion broke out and the family once again was subjected to gunfire. The refugees were moved to a camp on the Tigris River near Basra.
Aprahamian's older brother Nahabed, who was working in America, found out his family was in a refugee camp and arranged to send $2,500 so they could come to America.
The family arrived in Providence, R.I., on June 21, 1921, and settled in the Detroit area. Aprahamian met his wife, Arminuhe Amirian, during a trip to Niagara Falls in 1929. They were later married and returned to the Detroit area. Aprahamian had two engineering degrees, chemical and mechanical, and was also in the grocery business. His wife died in 2002. Aprahamian, at age 98, still lives in the Detroit area.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | March 15 2005 |