Chapter 6
From Istanbul to America


Since Izmit was very close to Constantinople, I took the small ferry and went to find out how I could get a passport. I am now amazed how I dared to do this. But, people helped me. On August 31, 1920 the British High Commission issued my passport. They gave me permission to go to the United States.

I am not certain what my fare cost. I think my brother Hamazasb sent Vartan $500. In addition, one needed money to bribe local officials. I needed papers, teskere, to reach the port cities on the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Escape would not have been possible if Hamazasb had not sent the money and Vartan had not bribed the officials. They cut my ticket to third class and put me in steerage. I often wondered during the trip how much cousin Vartan needed to bribe the officials. I don't know, but I think Vartan kept some money.

A heavy rain fell the October day I boarded the Greek ship, PATRAS. En route, we stopped at the Greek island of Crete where all the refugees were examined carefully for communicable diseases. I recall they checked my eyes several times. Finally, they permitted me to board again. I was very frightened that I would not pass.

Third class on the boat was hot and crowded. The smell of so many people in such a small place added to the foul odor of the pitiable who were seasick. Many passengers were women who had been married before the purge. When the war ended, the husbands sent passage for them to come to America to join them. Separated from loved ones, exhausted from forced hunger and bodily deprivations, they left what little was home and sailed to a new environment, to a husband they had not seen for more than five years. Fear gripped their hearts. They were ill during the entire journey. I wanted to help them, but I had no medication. A few of us healthier ones washed their faces in the morning and tried to wipe the vomit off their clothes. Some had little children whom we took with us to the upper deck to give their mothers some rest.

My excitement knew no bounds. My dream was finally coming true. Often, to get relief from the foul odor of the lower cabin, I found a friend, and together we climbed to the deck to enjoy the October air of the Atlantic. It was cold. We dressed as warmly as we could and preferred the cold to the stench among the crowded sick below. Each day for long periods of time, we looked out on the rough sea and wondered again what the new world would have for us . . . a husband . . . a new life . . . freedom. After about three weeks, we saw the Statue of Liberty. We had arrived. I remember the authorities at Ellis Island told us it was a holiday, Halloween. Upon disembarking, they herded us into a room crowded with other immigrants. They kept us in quarantine for the weekend. We could not understand why no one had come to greet us and began to worry that, for some reason, they were going to send us back. Later, we learned that because elections were taking place, they restricted all foreigners to Ellis Island.

The day after, Warren G. Harding was elected president of the United States. They released us and required us to go into customs, again a very happy day. When going through customs, the inspector asked me to open my suitcase. "We know you are coming here to get married. Let me see the pretty things you are bringing?" he teased with a genuine smile. Immediately, his smile faded as he looked at the worn hand-me-downs from the orphanage. With a worried expression he questioned who would marry such a poor young woman.

"My brother will take care of me until I marry," I answered as convincingly as I could. My whole body was shaking. Please, don't let them send me back. Fortunately, on the first Wednesday in November in the year 1920, my brother, Hamazasb, my cousin, Lucig Chookasian, and her husband, Edward, were outside the gate ready to receive me into my new country. I had survived. I had reached the country of the United States where everyone was free. I stepped on the ground as if it were holy. Since that day, I have never walked on any other ground that did not have the United States seal on it.

I became a citizen when I married Leon Frank. I was not going to take any chances. To make my citizenship certain, I went to school and was naturalized in 1922 soon after Alice was born. My children will always know the privileges and responsibilities of their country . I have never had a strong voice, but I do love to sing. My favorite Armenian songs were "Giligia" and "Mer Hairenik." In the new country my favorite song is "America." As I sing this hymn from the bottom of my heart, I know that I have survived. I am now in the sweet land of liberty!