Virginia Archives Month 2025: Week 2!
Welcome to the second week of Virginia Archives Month!
This October, the St. James Armenian Church of Richmond, VA hosted their 65th Armenian Food Festival. It is one of the city’s oldest and longest running food festivals, and celebrates the rich history of the Armenian community in the River City. In honor of the Armenian Festival, we wanted to highlight some of our collections from Richmond’s Armenian community. Attendees at the festival this year might have noticed a poster dedicated to Medal of Honor recipient COL Ernest H. Dervishian. Our team created the poster for the festival to honor one of Richmond’s prominent citizens of Armenian descent.
Ernest H. Dervishian, WWII. Courtesy of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society
Ernest Herbert Dervishian was born on August 10, 1916, in Richmond, Virginia to Mary Juskalian Dervishian and Hagop Artin Dervishian. The Dervishians were Armenian immigrants who operated a candy store in Richmond. He grew up in the city and graduated from the University of Richmond. Dervishian enlisted in the Army in 1941. On May 23, 1944, Dervishian earned his Medal of Honor for action near Cisterna, Italy and was involved in the liberation of Rome. Dervishian served in the Army reserves until 1968 and retired as a colonel.
Dervishian also played a part in the history of the Virginia War Memorial.
Richmond News Leader, 29 November 1974.
On February 29 1956, Ernest Dervishian was among the special guests selected to participate in the dedication ceremony of the newly built Virginia War Memorial. This included lighting the Torch of Liberty at the base of “Memory.” Decades later, he relit the Torch of Liberty in November 1974 after it was cut off to conserve gas. Dervishian’s daughter graciously donated the two lighting wands from the 1956 dedication and the 1974 relighting. If you want to know more about his military service and actions that led to his Medal of Honor, visit the Medal of Honor gallery at the War Memorial.
The other collection we want to highlight this week are the Andrews and Bedrosian Family Papers.
"'The Doughnut Dipper:' Fink. 'The Quartet:' McKinley, Paris, Moore, Shipman."
The sons of Cecil D. and Sarah Andrews, Ralph Edward and Richard Earl Andrews both served in the US Navy during World War II. The brothers grew up in Caroline County, Virginia and by the 1940s, the family lived in Richmond.
Page from Richard E. Andrews scrapbook. Richard aboard the USS Saint Croix (APA 231).
Richard Andrews enlisted in the Navy in July 1942. He would continue to serve in the Navy during the Korean War. Ralph Andrews enlisted in the Navy at the age of 17 years old in January 1944 and served in the European theater. The Andrews brothers met their wives at the St. James Armenian Church. Ralph married Isobel Monghamian in 1939, the daughter of Garabed and Arecknazian Moughamian. The Moughamians operated a confectionary shop on Main Street. Richard married June Bedrosian in 1944, the daughter of Kasper and Lillian Bedrosian. The Bedrosians operated a dry cleaning business on Ellwood Ave.
Kasper Bedrosian during World War II, 10 March 1945.
Kasper Bedrosian, Richard’s father-in-law, has an interesting story that includes both World War I and World War II. He was born in Armenia around 1889. He emigrated to the United States in 1911 and became an American citizen in 1915. Bedrosian left Richmond in June 1915 and travelled to Siberia to join an Armenian resistance group as they fought against Turkey. He was discharged in October 1916 and with the help of the American Red Cross, made it back to the U.S. in 1917. At 28 years old, Bedrosian joined the Richmond Infantry Light Blues in May 1917. The company was sent to France as part of the American Expeditionary Forces and assigned as the Horse Battalion, 104th Ammunition Train, 29th Division during World War I. Kasper Bedrosian served his country again during World War II in the Virginia State Guard, an all-volunteer reserve of the Virginia National Guard.
