American “News” (New York) April 9, 1920: “A Yonkers man saved 2,000 children when the Turks burned down the orphanage.”
Published in the April 9, 1920 issue of the American “News” (New York)
Article titled "Yonkers Man Saves 2,000 Children When Turks Burn Down Orphanage"
A native of Yonkers, New York, William Morris Gilbert Jr. was the son of William Morris Gilbert, pastor of the local St. Paul's Episcopal Church. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War I, then joined the American Relief Committee's mission in the Middle East at the end of the war and worked in the Adana province.
During March-April 1920, the territory of Cilicia became the center of Franco-Turkish clashes. In early April 1920, Turkish troops entered Haruniye (a village in the Cebel-Bereket district of Adana province), which was a station for both German and American missionaries, and began to carry out destruction. The entire village was destroyed and set on fire by the Turks, including the local American orphanage, where about 2,000 orphans had found refuge.
William Morris Gilbert Jr. managed to save 2,000 children from the American orphanage in Haruniye from the holocaust on April 7, 1920. An article about his heroism was published in the April 9, 1920 issue of the American newspaper “News” (New York) under the headline “Yonkers Man Saves 2,000 Children When Turks Burned Down Orphanage,” which also noted that the rescued orphans were probably supposed to be moved to Cyprus, as it was too dangerous to stay in Adana.
This heroic episode by William Morris Gilbert was also featured in the April 1920 issue of The New Near East (vol. 5, issue N) under the headline "Near East Relief Worker Saves 2,000 Orphans from Fire."
