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Park will honor 2 heroes: Rosa Parks & WWII soldier Harold Bezazian

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  • Park will honor 2 heroes: Rosa Parks & WWII soldier Harold Bezazian

    Biloxi Sun Herald, Mississippi
    Jan 19 2008


    Park will honor two heroes: Rosa Parks and WWII soldier Harold A.
    Bezazian

    By KAT BERGERON
    [email protected]

    GULFPORT --The mystery of World War II hero Harold A. Bezazian is
    solved in time for Martin Luther King Day celebrations that include
    the dedication of a Rosa Parks bench. Bezazian's name is on two
    8-foot pillars at 30th Street Park, where the bench will be unveiled
    Monday.

    Bezazian is not black, but a half-century ago his father created the
    park and two others in less-privileged areas, because he understood
    discrimination firsthand. With time, the neighborhood forgot the
    meaning of the Bezazian name, and the odd pillars now stand alone,
    without fencing.

    Bezazian, a first lieutenant, died in March 1945 rescuing his 6th
    Infantry Division men behind enemy lines in Luzon. The Chicago native
    who'd received a Bronze Star for bravery died in enemy fire, but his
    rescue strategy worked.

    Identical bronze plaques on the pillars simply state his name, birth
    and death dates and declare, "In honor of a hero."

    Kristal Daniel, who organized the 1 p.m. MLK Day event at the park,
    saw the pillars but knew no more than what the plaques told her. As a
    member of AmeriCorps' Gulf Coast Conservation Corps, she felt the
    sparsely furnished park needed a bench.

    "We thought dedicating a bench to Rosa Parks for her refusal to give
    up a seat and what that meant to the civil rights movement would add
    meaning to the King observance," said Daniels. "Now, we'll also
    mention Bezazian."

    The Sun Herald contacted Bezazian's family in Chicago to learn why
    the lieutenant's father, John Bezazian, built parks for
    underprivileged and minority Gulfport children. The story begins in
    1895 when the father immigrated from Armenia.

    "Because of his swarthy skin, poor English and accent, my grandfather
    had a very difficult time his first years in America," said Paulette
    Bezazian.

    He overcame immigrant obstacles and gained wealth from real estate
    and selling rugs. He had three children.

    Harold, the youngest, who was born in 1911, went to good schools
    (Oberlin College and Columbia University) and pursued a short
    story-writing career. He was awarded a Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship
    for Europe, suitable for a man remembered by his family as a free
    spirit who loved children and didn't care much about material things.

    The South Mississippi connection enters when he worked on his
    father's 520-acre tung oil farm, as an experience to make him a
    better writer. His father bought the farm near Gulfport as an
    investment in a subtropical region favored as a winter escape for
    Chicago's rich.

    Unmarried and in his early 30s, Bezazian enlisted after Pearl Harbor.
    After his war death, the father financed philanthropic projects in
    his son's memory, including the Harold A. Bezazian Branch of the
    Chicago Public Library and the three Gulfport parks.

    http://www.sunherald.com/278/story/310900. html
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