Richard Balukjian
World War I Veteran
By Camille Arbogast
Richard Balukjian, known as Dick, was born to Hagop and Anna (Panosian) Balukjian in Amasia, Shirak, Armenia, on February 25, 1893. In 1910, Dick immigrated to the United States, sailing from Patras, Greece, on the White Star Line’s RMS Oceanic on August 9. Sixteen days later he arrived in New York, then immediately made his way to Boston. He may have had family in the area; his service record has a note “Acoby (Aunt),” perhaps referring to his local next of kin. By June 1917, Dick was living in Dorchester at 80 Shepton Street, working as a shoe lining cutter at the George E. Keith Shoe Company factory on A Street in South Boston. That July, Dick declared his intention to become an American citizen.
On July 20, 1918, Dick was inducted into the Army. He was one of 12,500 men drafted in Massachusetts that month. Sent to Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts, he was assigned to the 151st Depot Brigade for training. On September 18, he was transferred to the Medical Detachment of the 73rd Infantry, 12th Division, serving as a private. On October 29, he became an American citizen. He was discharged on January 29, 1919, at Camp Devens.
In 1920, Dick lived in a lodging house at 36 Dwight Street in the South End. He had returned to his prior occupation of shoemaker. By the late 1920s, he was living about a block away at 26 Milford Street. He had changed careers as well, now driving for Tremont Taxi. By 1938, he had moved about a mile to 151 Worcester Street where he lived through at least 1946. He reported on his World War II draft registration in 1942 that he worked for himself, driving a taxi cab, working out of the garage at 112 Worcester Street. Dick retired in 1950. By 1953, he was living at 142 West Concord Street.
Dick married Lillian May (Braley) Goss on December 23, 1953, in Norfolk, Virginia. Lillian was born in Danbury, New Hampshire. She was a widow with five children, her first husband having died in 1945. Lillian lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She and Dick settled there after their marriage, living at 23 Myrtle Avenue.
The Balukjians ran a business in Alton Bay, New Hampshire, operating “Dick’s Cottages,” sometimes also called “Dick’s Housekeeping Cottages,” or “Dick’s Distinctive Cottages,” on the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee near Pumpkin Point. Built in 1953, each of the six 32×24 foot cottages featured a flush toilet, shower, kitchenette, bedroom-living room, and screened porch. The lodgings could be rented overnight or by the week and housekeeping was provided. Across the highway from the cottages, Dick and Lillian had a two-bedroom summer residence with a “commanding view” of the lake.
In early 1956, Dick was diagnosed with lung cancer in his right lung and died later that year at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Manchester, New Hampshire, on July 26, 1956. A funeral was held for him at Saint John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth. Dick was buried in Franklin Cemetery, in Franklin, New Hampshire. He had been a member of the Armenian Church of Boston and the Independent Taxi Operators Association.
Sources
Virginia, Marriages, 1936-2014. Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, VA; Ancestry.com
Naturalization Records. National Archives at Boston, Waltham, MA; Ancestry.com
World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Military, Compiled Service Records. World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.
“Another Large Lot of Enthusiastic Young Men Start for Camp Devens for Training,” Boston Globe, 22 July 1918: 7; Newspapers.com
1920 U.S. Federal Census; Ancestry.com
Boston directories, various years; Ancestry.com
Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
“Auction Sales” [advertisement], Boston Globe, 8 September 1963: 146; Newspapers.com
“Summer Cottages and Houses” [advertisement]; Boston Globe, 14 June 1953: 106; Newspapers.com
Applications for Headstones for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925-1941, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Ancestry.com
“New Hampshire Death Certificates, 1938-1959,” citing Manchester, Hillsborough, NH, New Hampshire Division of Vital Records, Concord, NH; FamilySearch.org
“Richard Balukjian,” Portsmouth Herald, 27 July 1956: 3; Newspapers.com
“Funeral Notices,” Portsmouth Herald, 27 July 1956: 3; Newspapers.com