Arpiar Missakin born 1894 in Kessab. When Arpiar was just a boy, Turkish soldiers attacked his town of Kessab with 20,000 men. The men of the town fought back but it was hopeless and after 50 or so deaths they fled along with the rest of the townspeople. The people returned 5-6 days later and saw that their town had been burned to the ground; this was part of the Adana massacres.
Arpiar and the rest of his family were the last to be deported out of Kessab because they were Protestant. The American ambassador had secured their safety but they were deported out anyway. They were forced to put everything they had on mules and set out under armed guard. They were sent to Meskeneh a huge camp for Armenian deportees. There was very little to eat and many died every day. There were bones everywhere; Meskeneh was a horrible place and it is thought that over 60,000 people died there.
Judging by his picture on the website, I would say that Arpiar is completely devastated by the Armenian genocide; it has affected him physically and emotionally. His face shows sadness and loss from this terrible happening. In his hands he has American marine medals which might infer that he joined the American marines afterwards. He might have done this because he wants to prevent this from happening again.
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