The following is from a letter written by Will Grummett in 1923 and published in the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper:
During the Great War, I served with the Imperial Army in Mesopotamia, and toward the close of that campaign, during the latter part of 1918 I was sent up into Persia to aid in the rescue of that part of the Armenian people who had taken refuge at Lake Urmia, in Northern Persia. We were told we had 80,000 Armenians to bring down into Mesopotamia where they could be cared for by the British Forces. From records I kept of the refugees passing through my hands I believe 57000 refugees reached the concentration camp at Baqubah. The rest presumably perished on the way. The total distance traveled was 500 miles. The death rate per day was very heavy on the 60 miles of route over which I had charge.
W.J. Grummett, Toronto Globe and Mail, April 30, 1923.
Continue reading “11- Assignment: Armenian and Assyrian Refugees”