Anniversary of USAT Merritt

On Saturday, June 16, 2018, the Russian Museum of Culture in San Francisco held an event commemorating the arrival of the US Army Transport Merritt at Angel Island on July 1, 1923, carrying 526 Russian refugees who had fled from Vladivostok as the Bolsheviks closed in.  Historian Maria Sakovich and Eugenia Bailey, whose parents Paul and Mary Nikonenko were married on their journey on the Merritt, were both speakers at the event.  Read more stories from our Immigrant Voices archives about the Russian refugees who arrived at Angel Island during that tumultuous summer of 1923.