Pvt. Casimer Nowak
Camp Custer, 1918
(Family photo courtesy of Roy Nowak)
Pvt. Casimer "Cash" Nowak,
Co. B, 310th Engineers, 85th Div., U.S.
Army
American North Russia Expeditionary Force, 1918-1919
Pvt. Casimer Nowak
Camp Custer, 1918
(Family photo courtesy of Roy
Nowak)
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Pvt.
Nowak's travels as a soldier in the USA, England and North Russia
During
the period from July 11, 1918 through March 1919
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The text below was transcribed from Pvt. Nowak's handwritten notes (with footnotes added by the webmaster). He apparently wrote this in March 1919 just after Company B finished making their way on foot from Kholmogory to Bereznik on the Dvina River Front. It was written on two ruled sheets of paper that were taken from an unused daily planner (the printed dates on the blank pages run from 19 Wed. to 30 Sun. 1917). |
| Left Custer1 Thursday the
11th day of July 1918. Lan.2 in NY the 12th P.M. 8 days in Camp Mills3, C.I.4 the 18th, Left NY the 22nd. 13 days on water. Landed in Liverpool England Sat. the 3rd of Aug. Cowshot5 Sun A.M. London on furlough Wed 14th. Left Brookwood Mon A.M. the 26th of Aug. Left Newcastle out of Tine6 Harbor for Russia the 26th P.M. Landed in Archangel Wed the 4th of Sept. Bakarytya Port7 the 5th, first big holdup on whiskey Thanksgiving Eve 21 Cases of John Dewar's white Label.8 Wood and truck detail until the 5th of March 1919. Farewell party with the Russian workmen the 6th. Started for the river front9 the 7th, hiked the same day from Homagorskaya10 to Elenatika 24 Versts11; next 21 to Jaclena, from Jaclena to Siscoe12 18 Versts. From Siscoe to Jemetyka13 22 - Rested 24 hrs. From Jemetyka to Nichola 21 Versts. And a ferocious blizzard from Nichola to Polztowo 22. From Polztowo to Morsh 18. Bolos on our heels some fun.14 |
From Morsh to Oyta 18 Versts. From Oyta to Beres- niki15 22 Versts. Rum raid16 the same night. (illegible) 16 Versts. 20317 Ch(illeg.)petor in Zaboria some place a home I tell you. Five of us boys and Dukes of the village18 Every Tom Dick and Harry were on our working list. Mostly women and girls--- Vid(illeg.) |
1Camp Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan 2Lan. = Landed 3Camp Mills (1917-1920) was located on Long Island in what is now known as Garden City, NY 4C.I. = Company Inspection 5Camp Cowshot was located near Brookwood, Surrey, England 6Newcastle upon Tyne, the port in northeast England from which he sailed on the HMT Tydeus for Archangel 7Bakarytya Port = Bakharitsa, a port on the Dvina River opposite the city of Archangel 8The "boys" stole 21 cases of whiskey from the stockade in Bakharitsa the night before Thanksgiving, most of the "boys" were drunk on Thanksgiving Day and the day after. 9river front = Dvina River Front 10Homagorskaya = Kholmogory, a village on the Dvina River 111 Verst = approx. 0.67 mile 12Siscoe = Siskoe, a village on the Dvina River, below the Emtsa River 13Jemetyka = Emetsk or Emetskoe, a village on the Emsta River located just upstream from the Dvina River 14some fun = a mildly sarcastic reference 15Beresniki = Bereznik, a village on the Dvina River, below the Vaga River 16The Rum Raid in Bereznik (see story below) 17203 = total number of Versts hiked, about 135 miles 18there were only five soldiers in the village and they were "kings of the hill" |
The Rum
Raid in Bereznik, March 1919
(as related
by Casimer Nowak's son, Roy)
When I was a student at the University of Michigan (ca. 1953), the mailman at my fraternity house mentioned that he was going to go to the Polar Bear convention. I told him that my dad was also a Polar Bear in the 310th Engineers. The postman asked if my dad was involved in "that group of Engineers who raided the rum house?" I said I didn't know, but I would find out. The next time I was home (in Traverse City), I asked my dad about it and here is what he told me:
In those days the British soldiers were given a daily ration of rum, while the Americans got nothing. Some of the boys in Company B decided to do something about the situation, so one night a group of them commandeered a sledge (I don't remember if he said they also got a horse or not) and went to the English storage facility where the rum was kept [this was in Bereznik, on the Dvina River]. My dad was fluent in Polish and could understand enough Russian to get along with the language of the people, so he was the interpreter.They took the sledge to the entry way and bribed the guard, who was a Russian, as best I can remember the story, with the promise of a bottle of rum. He let them in and they loaded the sledge with enough rum to keep them "happy" and went back to the barracks.
Everyone in the barracks shared in as much rum as they could hold. Now, the rum came in wooden boxes packed with straw. Two to a box. Jamaican rum. As the boxes became empty, they were fed into the pot bellied stove. Eventually the stove over heated and the wooden barracks caught fire. The fire was extinguished before the barracks burned down. A fine time was had by all and eventually they went to sleep - or more likely passed out. The next morning at roll call this barracks of Engineers showed up in sorry shape, and the British commander wanted to know how the barracks caught fire. The Engineers' captain knew perfectly well how it all happened, but pleaded ignorance. So therefore none of the boys were reprimanded.
Roy Nowak
January 2004
Pvt. Nowak's "Trench Art"
On the return trip home, Pvt. Nowak created this ashtray stand from a large brass artillery shell casing.
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On the bottom of the shell casing he hand-tooled the following inscription:
BOLSHEVIK
ARCHANGEL
SEP. 4 .....JUNE 27
1918 ..........1919
NORTH RUSSIA
310. ENG.
U.S.A.
EXPEDITION
Return to:
"Polar Bear" Stories - as told by themselves and/or their relatives
310th Engineers Photo Album - 241 captioned photos from Pvt. Nowak's album, taken by the photographers of the 310th Engineers
The "Detroit's Own" Polar Bear Memorial Association web site
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