INTRODUCTION | CEREMONIES & EVENTS | HONOR ROLL | MILITARY DECORATIONS | ENGAGEMENTS

"POLAR BEAR" STORIES | ARTICLES & REF. INFO. | PHOTO ALBUM | MORE LINKS | BOOKS | GUESTBOOK

The "Detroit's Own" Polar Bear Memorial Association is dedicated to honoring and maintaining the memory of the 339th Infantry Regiment, the 1st Battalion of the 310th Engineers, the 337th Ambulance Co. and the 337th Field Hospital of the U.S. Army's 85th Division. These men, officially designated the American North Russian Expeditionary Force and also known as "Detroit's Own" and "Polar Bears", were sent by President Wilson to North Russia where they fought the Bolshevik Red Army from September 1918 through June 1919.

Please read and sign our Guestbook before you leave!

What's New!

• "Voices of a Never Ending Dawn" - Pamela Peak's documentary about the Polar Bears will be shown on WGVU Grand Rapids Public Television, Sunday night, January 31, 2010 at 10:00 PM (repeated early Thursday morning, Feb. 4th at 2:00 AM). It will be shown on other PBS Public Television stations nationwide during 2010, so check your local listings. The film can be purchased on DVD by visiting this web page. Click here for some "behind-the-scenes" photos and information about the documentary. Click on these links to access recent media coverage: Battle Creek Enquirer news article, Grand Rapids Press news article, WGVU Radio interview with Pamela Peak, Interlochen Public Radio interview with Pamela Peak.

• The book "A Motor City Year" was recently published and it features a full page photo taken by the author at our 2008 Memorial Day ceremony. John Sobczak's book captures everyday life in Metro Detroit with this and 364 additional images. This book is on sale at local bookstores and is also available from Amazon.com.

• Primm's endeavors recorded for future generations - The Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009 edition of the Manitowoc, Wisconsin Herald Times Reporter carries the story of a newly-released, limited-edition book containing the North Russia reports of Lt. Clarence J. Primm of Company M, 339th Infantry Regiment. Clarence Primm's daughter-in-law Carol Primm collaborated with family friend Pete Stuntz to organize and edit Clarence's original typed manuscripts, maps and photos dating from 1918 to 1950. Their book is titled "Polar Bear Tales, By a Soldier of the A.E.F. North Russia, Clarence J Primm". More information can be found here on the "Books" page of this web site.

• Join the Polar Bear Memorial Association group on Facebook.

• War Diaries of the Canadian Field Artillery (CFA) in North Russia - Library and Archives Canada maintains the War Diaires of the First World War database which contains the digitized images of the War Diaries of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) units. From the start of the First World War, CEF units were required to maintain a daily account of their “Actions in the Field.” This log was called a War Diary. The War Diaries are not personal diaries, rather they are a historical record of a unit’s administration, operations and activities during the First World War. The North Russia CFA diaries are organized into five different collections: 16th Brigade, CFA, 21 Aug 1918 through 31 May 1919, 187 images | 67th Battery, 16th Brigade, CFA, 16 Oct 1918 through 31 May 1919, 40 images | 68th Battery, 16th Brigade, CFA, 09 Oct 1918 through 31 May 1919, 38 images | "D" Force, 16th Brigade, CFA, 01 Oct 1918 through 15 Oct 1918, 3 images | Seletskoe Detachment, 16th Brigade, CFA, 01 Jan 1919 through 28 Feb 1919, 17 images. The 16th Brigade collection dated 21 Aug 1918 through 31 May 1919 includes two sets of October diary pages. The first set (Items 13 through 29) covers the Dvina and Vaga River Front detachment actions for the month of October 1918 while the second set (Items 139 through 187) covers the actions of the Railroad Front detachment from 02 Oct through 30 Dec 1918 (despite being identified as October diaries).

• The Canadian War Records Office oversaw the production of motion picture reports from the field that documented the Canadian contribution to the war effort not only on the Western Front but also in North Russia. Canada's National Film Board has archived the Canadian Expeditionary Force WW I film footage and has made it available for viewing on-line at their "Images of a Forgotten War" web site. Their North Russia footage totals more than 40 minutes and is titled "With General Ironside's Forces in North Russia". It contains embedded scene titles and is presented in four parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

• Look for "Detroit's Polar Bear Regiment" on your Public Television station - Beginning September 3, 2008, Michigan Public Media began broadcasting "Michigan Minutes," 90-second video shorts about interesting events in Michigan history. Watch for videos on the Polar Bear Brigade, the House of David baseball team, and the first heart machine. Each video will air on Flint's WFUM-TV and then periodically on other Michigan public television stations.

• "Major William H. Henry, 310th Eng. Medical Detachment" - Biographical sketch of William H. Henry, M.D., 1872-1963, including photos and citation.

• "Michigan War Veterans Memorial" - photos and information about the Memorial, which was dedicated in 1939 and is located at the northeast corner of Woodward and State Fair Avenues in Detroit.

• "Detroit's Own" Polar Bears lapel pin and tee shirts are available for purchase - view and order here. All proceeds benefit the Polar Bear Memorial Association.

• Photos from the Fronts - 21st Century views of the Dvina River Front and the Railroad Front; courtesy of Alexey Suhanovsky of Arkhangel'sk, Russia. Mr. Suhanovsky is a publisher, journalist, military archaeologist and Red Army veteran who has an avid interest in the local aspects of the Russian Civil War. He has recently made several trips to the fronts where the Polar Bears and their Allied forces fought the Bolshevik Army in 1918 and 1919. Armed with old maps, a GPS unit, a metal detector and a camera, he has explored some of the old fortifications and he has graciously shared his photos with us.

• "Vaga Dvina Junction" Map - A circa 1918 map (in English and with an interesting provenance) that shows the region encompassing the Dvina and Vaga River Fronts.

• The 1920 book The History of The American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki, by Capt. Joel R. Moore, Lt. Harry H. Mead and Lt. Lewis E. Jahns, is now available in electronic form at Project Gutenberg. It has has been transcribed by Don Kostuch, the son of John Kostuch, who was a Mechanic in Company M of the 339th Infantry Regiment. From this page, you can select any of several formats to read and/or download the book for free (all but the ".txt" format include the original photos).

"The American Expedition to North Russia in 1918-1919 has been oddly neglected by professional historians, with the result that most US citizens, including even the best educated and well-read, have been unaware of its existence. Partly, this has been because it got underway in the closing weeks of the Great War (now officially called World War I), and like a side show at a circus where they are already striking the tent, it drew little attention.

"Besides that, there was the confusion and obscurity surrounding it with regard to its purpose, especially in Washington and among the American troops who were involved: they literally had no idea what they were being sent to do. Even President Woodrow Wilson, as will be seen, was in a spin of uncertainty as to whether he should or should not authorize the expedition, and the British leadership (for it was to be an Allied operation, including British and French soldiers, but with the British officers in all the top command positions) offered little clarification.

"Without further enlightenment, five thousand American doughboys found themselves, early in September of 1918, after a long, slow trip from England through the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean, disembarking at the Russian port of Archangel - and more than half of them no sooner ashore than they were, with astonishment, packed off to "the front" to fight "the Bolos" - which was to say units of the Soviet Red Army. The operation thus turned out to be, willy-nilly and right from the start, an invasion of Soviet territory."

Ernest M. Halliday - from the Introduction to his book When Hell Froze Over