Little Boys in Van with Wooden Rifles

These photographs were published in August 1919 in National Geographic magazine. The little boys shown in them, the eldest only 12 years old, had come to Van with wooden rifles, without asking anyone’s permission, to meet Governor Hambardzumyants. They wanted to receive real weapons in place of their wooden toys.

In the foreground are two boys in tall fur hats and worn clothes, with long wooden sticks on their shoulders. Other children are behind them.

These children were ready to fight and, if necessary, to die for their homeland and their families, many of whose members they had already lost.