Tekeyan Cultural Association

Metro Los Angeles chapter

1901 N. Allen Avenue

Altadena, CA 91101

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Captain Jim Chankalian: Leader of the Armenian-American
Volunteer Soldiers” to be Hosted by the Tekeyan Cultural Association Metro Los
Angeles Chapter

ALTADENA, CA – The Tekeyan Cultural Association Metro Los
Angeles Chapter will host a program titled “Captain Jim Chankalian: Leader of
the Armenian-American Volunteer Soldiers” on Sunday, November 18, 2018 at 5 p.m.
at the Tekeyan Center in AltadenaBoston-based scholar Aram Arkun, Executive
Director of the Tekeyan Cultural Association of the United States and Canada
and Assistant Editor of the Armenian
Mirror-Spectator, will serve as the keynote speaker and present the
fascinating life of Captain Jim Chankalian, who was a part of the Armenian
Legion that successfully defeated the Turkish and German forces at the Battle
of Arara in Palestine in September 1918.

This bilingual program will be dedicated to the 100th
anniversary of this heroic victory that was achieved by the 4,000 members of
the Armenian Legion (including 1,200 valiant American-Armenian soldiers led by
Captain Jim Chankalian). Born in Dikranagerd in 1879, Chankalian, along with
three other Armenians from Paterson, New Jersey, served in the United States
Army during the Spanish-American War. Almost twenty years later, under
Chankalian’s leadership, New Jersey became the initial military training ground
for the Armenian Legion in the United States, before they headed overseas.
Captain Jim Chankalian is recognized as one of the most prominent leaders of
the Armenian Democratic Liberal party (A.D.L.) as well as the first president
of the Central Committee of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) in the
United States. He also served the Armenian Church in numerous leadership
positions, among them as a member of the original committee which led to the
building of the Diocesan Center and St. Vartan Cathedral in New York City. He
died in New Jersey in 1947.

Keynote speaker Arkun, a respected scholar, is a graduate of
Princeton University and has a master’s degree in international relations from
the University of Pennsylvania and a C. Phil. degree in Armenian history from
the University of California Los Angeles. 
He has been editor-in-chief of the AGBU Ararat quarterly, director of the Krikor and Clara Zohrab
Information Center of the Diocese of the Armenian Church (Eastern) and adjunct
assistant professor at New York University, among other posts. He has written a
number of articles on Cilician Armenians in the modern period.

Also participating in the program is Dr. Zaven Arslanian,
the maternal grandson of Sergeant Caspar Menag of Chunkoosh and Lawrence,
Massachusetts of the Armenian Legion. Sergeant Caspar Menag, who fought at the
Battle of Arara and in Cilicia, considered Captain Jim Chankalian to be one of
the great influences on his life.

The dancers of the Patille Dance Studio of Pasadena, under
the direction of Patille and Cynthia Albarian, will perform a number of dances
in honor of the Armenian Legion.

Few, if any, served the Armenian people, by means of the
Armenian Legion, A.D.L., Armenian Church, AGBU, as well as the United States
Army, with greater distinction and honor than the great patriot and national
hero, Captain Jim Chankalian.

Admission is free and open to the public.