Getting their due
New exhibit honors Armenian-American soldiers of World War I
By André Coleman 12/24/2009
A past Pasadena mayor and a former assistant city manager have teamed up to honor Armenian-American heroes of World War I.
Ed Aghjayan, who served as assistant city manager in Pasadena from 1985 to 1990 before heading to Anaheim, where he served as city manager until 2000, worked with Bill Paparian, an attorney and former Marine who served on the City Council from 1987 to 1999, to bring to Pasadena Central Library “Légion Arménienne: The Armenian Legion and Its Heroism in the Middle East,” a traveling exhibit developed and prepared by the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA), located in Massachusetts.
The exhibit, which tells the story of the 5,000 men who fought with the Allies in World War I and later risked their lives again in defense of Armenian human rights, will be on display in the library’s Great Hall through Jan. 17.
A reception co-sponsored by the Western Region of the Armenian Rights Council of America and the Pasadena Chapter of the Armenian National Committee will be held at 2:30 p.m. Jan. 3 in the Wright Auditorium of the Pasadena Central Library. The public is invited.
“The United States had not even entered the war and these guys left their homes — most of them from the eastern part of the United States — and volunteered,” Paparian said. “There was a pivotal campaign that they took part in that led to the victory of the British and French forces in Palestine. All of that is in the exhibit. This is a great exhibit. I really hope people come out and see it.” — André Coleman
The Pasadena Central Library is at 285 E. Walnut St., Pasadena. For more information, call (626) 744-4060.
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