A
A












IRTESY OF DETROIT NE
Al~y 4, q 1919


Returning Polar Bears Parade on Belle Isle, Ji




MICHIGAN'S POLAR BEARS
The American Expedition to North Russia
1918-1919
RICHARD M. DOOLEN
T h U niversi ty of Mic higan
Ann Arbor, 1965




I




Michigan's Polar Bears


For most members of the American arm-ed forces in
Europe, the signing of the armistice with Germany in
November, 1918, meant the end of combat and the
realization that soon they would be reunited with their
families at home. But for one contingent of United States
servicemen, the end of fighting in western Europe signified very little at all, for its work had only begun. These
were the men of the American Expedition to North
Russia, the "Polar Bears," who, with their British,
French, Canadian and assorted other allies, still faced
many months of combat before they too could return
from the war. Sent to Archangel in the early days of
September,. 1 i 8, these Americans would remain for some
nine months before finally being withdrawn in June,
1919: yet during that time few if any would ever understand precisely why they were there.
Although the exact nature of the Polar Bears' mission
was unclear, there was never any question as to the icentity of their opponents, the armies of Soviet Russia. When
the Polar Bear Regiment arrived in Archangel, the Bolshevik government had been in power for less than a year,
had withdrawn Russia from the Allied side by making a
separate peace with Germzany, and was now involved in
civil war with several anti-Communist "White" Russian
armies. President Wilson, previously committed to a
policy of non-intervention in Russia's internal affairs,
had opposed American participation in the expedition.
However, under heavy French and British pressure, and


[3]




with the understanding that the expedition would have
only certain limited objectives related to the successful
conclusion of the war with Germany, he at last consented
in July, 1 9 8, to the use of American soldiers. These were
to number approximately 5,50( men who would join
smaller detachments of English, French and other Allied
troops under British comlnand in the Archangel region.
A large proportion of the American troops were men
from Michigan, members of the 339th Infantry Regiment.
In addition to the 339th, the American force comprised
the First Battalion of the 3ioth Engineers, the 337th
Field Hospital and the 337th Ambulance Company, all
from the 85th Division, which had been trained at Camp
Custer, near Battle Creek, Michigan.
They were deployed on a front, shaped roughly in the
form of a horseshoe, with Onega on the White Sea, and
Pinega, on the river of the same name, as its respective
western and eastern limits. The lines extended south
from Archangel to positions held by the Third Battalion
on the Vologda-Archangel railroad, and the First Battalion on the Dvina River with its tributaries, the Emtsa
and Vaga. The point of farthest penetration inland was
Ust Padenga, in the group of villages immediately south
of the town of Shenkursk.
Many of the difficulties encountered by the Polar Bears
were the problems of all combat soldiers. Supply and
shelter, weather and sanitation are considerations in the
operations of any molern army, and the expedition to
North Russia was no exception. In a December memo to
his platoon commanders, Captain Otto Odjard requested
that all men be told to bathe and change their underclothing at least once a week. This order, he noted, was to
be complied with "in spirit as well as in letter," but it is
questionable whether men at the front were often able to
execute either the spirit or letter of this type of order as
the campaign wore on.


[4]




Standiard 8-man Blockhouse. Vologda Rv. Vrst- 441




On arrival in Archangel, those Americans destined for
the Dvina front were transported upriver on old coal
scows. Numbers of the men on board were seriously ill,
a situation not surprising in light of Clarence Scheu 's
description:
Suffering Sea Cooks, what a rotten hole they have
dumped us into now, coal dust 2 inches thick, damp,
filthy dungeon. We are sleeping on bottom of scow,
no  light, ventilation, or anything...
A two-day issue of rations for the Aimierican troops, as
described by one participant, included one can of corned
beef, one can of meat and vegetables, an ounce of tea,
three and( one half ounces each of sugar and rice or beans,
eight ounces of bacon, and hardtack. However, when on
the move, or under severe battle conditions, the soldier's
diet might be reduced to hardtack and bully beef, or
whatever he could obtain from the peasants in the way of
smoked fish, black bread or vegetables.
Weather conditions were unusually severe; telmperatures of fifty degrees below zero were recorded by some
of the men in mid-winter, and in December and January
laylight lasted for only a few hours. Attacking Russian
soldiers wearing white smocks in order to blend with the
snow-covered landscape, might creep close to the Allied
lines before being observed, and difficult terrain often
combined with the Russian climate to make the soldier's
lot particularly uncomfortable. One veteran recalled that
in September, )918, he had "slept in a swamp all night
and it was raining so we had no place to lay, so we did
not do any sleeping but walked back and forth all night
to keel) from freezing." When weather conditions became
most severe in the coldest winter months, frostbite was
added to the list of customary army medical problems,
and deep snow made troop movement not only cumbersome but hazardous. Near Chenova, in March, 1919,


[6]




American and British troops were described as "thoroughly overcome with fatigue" after advancing five
hundred yards in the face of heavy enemy machine gun
fire, through snow up to their waists.
To a considerable extent, however. the expedition into
northern Russia was trying, not because of the combat
dangers, or other predictable problems associated with
military operations, but rather because of the uncertainty
as to the purpose of the missioll. E. NI. Halliday entitled
his accouint of the Polar Bears' exp)loits The Ignloralit
Arnmies, and the title is singularly appropriate, for it calls
attention to the sheer frustration experienced by men
trying to understand why they had been dispatched to
Russia in the first place. ()ficially, they and the other Allied detachmelnts 5had originally been sent to the Archangel region to guard the military suppllies stored there
and keep tlhem out of Germanl hands; or to prevent the
establishmenlt of a German subtmarinei bae in the area.
There was also talk of reconstructing a second front in
the cast, aind of somehow restoring Russia to the coalition
of nations fighting the Central Powers.
However. after the armistice with Germany was signed,
the exlpe(lition could only take on nore an id more of the
character of an anti-Bolshevik force, seeking to aid the
White armies in breaking the Communist hold on Russia.
Since this latter aim was never clearly expressed. it is not
surprisiig to find Almerican soldiers wondering why
their services were needed in this remote corner of the
world whenl the fighting in western Europe had ended.
That the expedition had never really captured the
imagination of the men involvedl is indicated by a portion
of a letter written homenF in February, 1919, by an American lieutenant:
[I] suplpose that by this time the country is swarming
with returned soldiers. They must be getting them out
of France, at a pretty good rate. They certainly did some


[71,




fine work over there. How I wish that I had been fortunate enough to get over there. How would you like to
take a day off to go to the circus, get as far as the big tent,
then be turned around and spend your day in one of the
sideshows....?
This same lieutenant, Charles B. Ryan, attended a lecture
by DeWitt Poole, the American charge d'affaires. The
title of Mr. Poole's talk was "Russia: Why We Are Here,"
but the American lieutenant thought it might be summed
up in the familiar expression: "We're here because we're
here." "I sometimes wonder," another American soldier
noted in a diary entry, "if the US will ever wake up to
the fact that they have a regiment over here. on guard."
The problem of maintaining morale was further complicated by the propaganda activities of the Bolsheviks,
who piled leaflets where American soldiers might find
and read them, and on occasion used more direct means.
Sergeant Gordon Smith recorded in September, i i8.
that a "Bolo" had come out under a white flag to deliver
a lecture on Bolshevism and to tell the Americans that
the Russians did not want to fight them. According to
Lieutenant Harry Costello, a Bolshevik orator appeared
in the darkness one November night and shouted to the
Americans, asking why they were fighting them   and
declaring that they were fellow-workers.
In Costello's opinion, the Soviet propaganda efforts
were quite unsuccessful, because the hardworking men
from the farms and factories of Michigan saw the Bolshevik leaders not as fellow "toilers," but as cruel and
shiftless men "who turned the evils of Romanoff rule
into anarchy, murder, rape and pillage." American soldliers in the expedition realized the dangerous nature of
Bolshevism, he believed, and expected that at some time
in the future they might again be called upon to play
their part in crushing the Commnunist menace.
An abhorrence of Communism and a conviction that


[8]




it must never become a danger to the United States were
doubtless shared generally by these American soldiers.
It did not follow, however, that each man would feel
altogether sure of his own immediate role as an opponent
of the Russian Revolution on Russian soil. "Now is the
time" wrote,ieutenant Ryan in a letter of April 7, 1919,
to finish off the Russian Comrinunists "and incidentally,
get a few of our homegrown Bolsheviks." The men of the,39th had seen what Communism meant and "it ought to
be unhealthy for any agitators to start their propaganda
in the shops around Detroit." But what if the Russian
people themselves were either apathetic or actually in
opposition to this western effort to save them  from
Communism? In February. Lieutenant Ryan had noted
in his diary:
There is a rumor that they have arrested 300 civilians
in Archangel. What are we doing here anyway. The
people won't hell) themselves. They are nearly all
Bolsheviks. If this is not interfering with Russian
politics I miss my guess.
If the lieutenant found the Russians' lack of enthusiasm  disappointing, another American soldier took a
perhaps more realistic point of view. Running through
the diary of Sergeant Silver Parrish, there is a deep feeling
of sympathy and understanding for the Russians. a feeling
which he apparently took no pains to hide. He saw them
as industrious but downtrodden people, seeking only to
throw off the yoke of their oppressors: "After being up
here fighting these people I will be ashamed to look a
union man in the face, for the way they have been treated
by their government and the Cossacks is a dirty crime."
Parrish was sure that the majority of the people were in
sympathy wvith the Bolsheviks, and he (lid not blame
them for that. In fact. he admitted, he and his platoon
had been called Bolsheviks themselves because they signed


[9]




a petition "protesting against conditions and fighting the
Bolo after the Germans had quit."
These were not the words of a mIalingerer or slacker,
for men like Parrish obeyed their orders even when they
seemed to bring tragedy to innocent people. Told to
destroy a Russian village in November. 1918. because of
possible danger from snipers. Parrish relates that he and
his men carried out the order even though "My heart
ached to have the women fall downi at my feet and grab my
legs and kiss my hand and beg miie not to do it. But orders
are orders,... so I done my duty." Nor could there be
any questions of this man's courage: Parrish boasted that
his platoon had "the best fighting record of any platoon
in the battalion," and he himself was decorated in the
course of the campaign by the British government.
As the long, frustrating wainter months drew to a close.
there were exaggerated reports in late March, i9 (,) of
mutiny among the American soldiers. 'The difficlty
hinged upon a certain amount of grumbling among
members of Cormpany "I" who had been away from the
front on rest, and were being ordered to load sleds for
their return to combat. 'Ihe men believed, as did many
of their comrades, that the Russians themselves were
not making a sufficient effort on their own behalf, and
could not see wlhy they had to do their fighting for them.
I'he menl did carry out the orders after only a short delay,
and were the next day in battle with the Bolsheviks, but
newspapers in the United States played up the story with
a considerable amount of sensation. What is significant in
the incident is not that discontent should begin to be
manifested, but rather that no more serious incidents were
reported; for at this same time there were far nore
dangerous cases of actual lmutiny among the other Allied
soldiers, including both the French aiid British.
'There is, however, some evidence that discontent
among the Americans had become a major consideration


[10]




Traveling "deluxe" in Russia-Tcgra.t




by the end of winter. The protest petition to which
Sergeant Parrish referred and which he apparently
authored was drawn up in the early days of March. He
reports that he was called on the carpet before his colonel,
who read the articles of war to him and informed him that
his offense was punishable by death. In describing this
petition in his diary entry for March 4, Sergeant Parrish
noted that it requested the reason why Americans were
fighting the Bolsheviks; why there was not better treatment with regard to food, mail and medical attention;
why there was no heavy artillery; and why the Americans
were under British command. The petition may also
have contained, or was accompanied by, a second statement by the men, threatening to refuse to advance any
farther after March 15- In the back pages of the Parrish
diary such a statement is included in a petition headed
Resolution Number One, and directed to "the commanding officer of Archangel district." The two may be quite
distinct documents, and the second, perhaps, was never
actually submitted, for it is difficult to reconcile such a
threat and its effect upon the British command, with the
award to Parrish on March i8th of the British Military
Medal. Still, we have the testimony of Lieutenant John
Cudahy that either this or a similar incident occurred
involving a threat by the American soldiers at Toulgas to
"walk out." He placed it in February, but he was speaking
from several years hindsight, and may have confused the
exact date. Cudahy was not critical of the men involved,
for he saw them as individuals who were familiar with
peacetime industrial strikes used as weapons for expressing disapproval, and who, when told the implications of
mutiny, realized their error and never again engaged in
such a protest.
The attitude of the men becomes more understandable
when placed in the context of other events at the time.
In late February, President Wilson had announced his


[12]




intention finally to withdraw the American troops from
Russia. This news very quickly reached the men at the
front. Now it was but a question of awaiting British
replacements and adequate transportation home, and
thus further bloodshed must have seemed particularly
senseless. In the back of the Kenneth Skellenger diary,
there is the following entry, dated March 9, 1919, and
addressed "to the Bolsheviki soldiers":
officially we Americans know we have been ordered
out of Russia by our President.
We are under the damned British control until May
17th. This we (lo not understand. We are only fighting
for our lives. There are practically no English soldiers in
the front lines or in Russia.
We would join hands with you to down crowned
heads. It is all for the majority of human beings.
The US soldiers hear many stories about the inhuman
"Bolo" but we do not believe all we hear.
Homies and lear wives wait for us and no doubt for
you.
We won't make an attack on you. If you wait 21/2
months we will be out of Russia.
Signed Soldier Boys of the U.S.
Both the Parrish petition and the entry cited above
evidence the antipathy which American soldiers in the
expeditionary force felt toward the British command.
Colonel George Stewart, the highest ranking American
officer present, was himself not popular, but the subordinate American officers appear generally to have been
liked and respected by their men. On the other hand,
only General Ironside, after November the overall Allied
commander, seems to have escaped the almost universal
American censure of British officers, too many of whom,
it was believed, perhaps unfairly, had found snug office
jobs behind the lines in Archangel while Americans did
all the fighting at the front. It was also charged that the
British soldiers sent to Russia were not physically fit,


[131,




but rather worn-out veterans from the western front, and
this belief, along with incidents like the accidental shelling
of Allied lines by British artillery, ma(de the situation
very tense at times.
To some Americans. the British appeared insensitive
to ordinary standards of decency. Sergeant Costello remembered that in the evacuation of Shenkursk, the
British advised leaving the wounded behind; Ibut the
Americans and Canadians wouldl not agree. and(l te
wounded were saved only after considerable argument. In
October, 1)18, an American recorded in his (iary that
while serving on guard duty he found in front of the
British officers' barracks a box marlked "from the USA
for the boys at the front.' The box was emr)ty and he
believed the British had themselves approp)riated its
contents. Feeling apparently remained bitter to the very
end; "[The] English will be driven back into the White
Sea soon," noted Sergeant (Gordon Smith in June, 1(919.
"Hurrah! I hope so!"
Relations between the French and American soldiers
were on quite a different plane. Here there were both
respect and comradeship tranlscenlding any language difficulties, and nurtured by a mutual dislike of the British.
Probably, only the valiant units of Canadian artillerymen
rivalled the French "poilus" in the hearts of the American
troops.
Toward the Soviet soldiers, the Americans seelmed to
hold a certain measure of respect, quite apart fromn any
dislike of their Communist leaders. These were no
cowardly opponents, declared Iieutenant Ryan. and all
that was necessary to be convinced of that vwas to see
them coming at you as you waited behind your machine
gun. The Americans came to believe that stories of Bolshevik atrocities perpetrated against captured Allied
soldiers were much exaggerated. In their account of the
expedition, Joel Moore and Harry Mead noted that the


[141




['1




atrocity stories were often part of the British propaganda
efforts, designed to arouse American soldiers against their
opponents. But, as they pointed out, "Brave men do not
need to be fed such stuff. Distortion of facts only disgusts
the man when he finally becomes undeceived."
More than respect was involved in the Polar Bears'
regard for the Russian peasants, with whom they were
often in close contact, to the extent of being quartered
with them under the same roof. There were unpleasant
aspects to living in the moujiks' houses, particularly the
ever-present cockroaches and the absence of adequate
ventilation; but on cold winter nights, complaints were
probably very few as the men bedded down around the
huge brick ovens, a prominent feature of rural north
Russian homes. Residents of Archangel, and Russian
urban dwellers generally, may have been suspect in the
eyes of the American soldiers as shirkers or Bolshevik
sympathizers, but for these simple peasants there was
kindness and understanding.
On Christmas eve, in the village of Chemova, some of
the men of "B" Company decorated a fir tree with packages containing canteen items of cigarettes, sugar and
tea, then invited in the peasants to share in the celebration. Clarence Scheu, in describing the festivities, remarked that in the middle of the party, "seven or eight
Russians approached us and swore fidelity to the Americans present, and boy how they can swear. We reciprocated likewise and passed the cigarettes, stripped the tree
to the children, bid all 'da da'... and turned in a tired
but happy lot." Scheu also remembered giving money
toward the rebuilding of a Russian schoolhouse.
American doctors, too, made their own contribution
to the peasants' welfare. Captain Henry Katz noted that
a Shenkursk newspaper had commended American
medical men for visiting the villages around that city


[i6]




and caring for the people during an influenza epidemic
in November.
Sergeant Parrish's interest in the Russian people was
particularly keen. Much of his diary is devoted to vivid
descriptions of battlefield encounters with the Bolsheviks,
but there are also informative and amusing accounts of
the day-to-day activities of the peasants with whom he so
deeply sympathized. These were simple, hardworking
people, he noted, and with hearts of children. Neither
moral nor immoral, they were "nearly unmoral," and
saying things which would embarrass an American but
which were customary for them. If one had seen women
and children costumed like these people on a stage, said
Parrish, it would have been laughable, but here in this
context, it brotught forth only sympathy for them, and
loathing for those who kept them in such poverty and
ignorance.
The sergeant devoted considerable attention to the
peasants' crops, the appearance of their homes, and their
diet, which, as he described it. seems to have consisted
primarily of such items as potatoes, fish, berries and
mushrooms. One institution he found especially admirable, and thought it might very well be copied in the
United States. This was the bathhouse, a log structure
similar to the saunas used by the people of neighboring
Finland. Tiers of steps or benches were placed near a
large kettle of water heated over a stone furnace.
When the water is hot, they get in there and throw
water on the hot rocks and its makes hot steam. They
then get on this bench or steps and if they want to
perspire very freely they get up to the top and if not
they stay down low. Then they wash and pound each
other with some little leafy twigs. The whole family
together, men, women, girls and boys. (I guess we will
have to start Baths like that in America.)


[171,




Russian marriages, the sergeant decided, were more
business propositions than sacred undertakings. "If you
are a man and want a woman, you go to her parents and if
yoru have enough money to put with hers you get her
whether she wants you or not." Women had the same
privilege of purchasing husbands if they desired and had
the money to do so.
For amusement, the peasants sometimes made use of
a "teeter-totter affair," which Parrish had observed in
operation and which he wryly described:
One girl gets on one end and one on the other and
one jumps tp and comes down on the board which
throws the other one up in the air 2 or 3 feet high.
She then in turn lands on her end and away goes the
other girl and they keep it up until they get tired or
break a leg.
Not all the Americans involved, perhaps not even
most, were deeply interested in the daily life of the
peasants. Probably few grew so attached to them as did
Sergeant Parrish. But shared Christmas celebrations, the
work of American medics in the villages, kindnesses to
Russian children, and living under the same roof with
the peasants were experiences not soon to be forgotten
on either side.
On the other hand, if the expedition's underlying purpose had really been to save the people of Russia from
Communism, there can have been little satisfaction felt
by these American soldiers who had given so much under
such trying circumstances, and who were at last taken
out of Russia in the summer of i9i9. What had they
really been able to accomplish in their nine months tour
of duty? How long would the shaky anti-Communist
North Russian government in Archangel be able to last
once the British too had withdrawn? Not long, as events
were soon to show. What value, then, did the intervention


I[8]




Young Rusians gettin g Leftovers at Englis:h Kitchr- Kaiatsbor.




in Russia by the western powers actually have? "When
we came away," wrote Sergeant Costello, "many of us
wondered if we had not succeeded by our failure to crush
it [Communism] in translating this whole Bolshevist
business into a national movement."
Combat in Russia had been an experience testing not
only fighting abilities, but, to an unusual degree, the
stamina and morale of the soldiers involved. If the task
was left unfinished, it was surely not the fault of these
who had served at the front. In any case, it was good to be
going home. Gordon Scheu described the Polar Bear
troopship's arrival in Boston harbor:
We are all set and ready to disembark at a moment's
notice, everyone on edge on deck, and [the] rails are
crowded with troops watching; [we] pass Boston lighthouse at 8 p.m. Sight Revere Beach, brightly illuminated
at 9 p.m. A mighty cheer goes up from the ship. Its all
over now, we're home.
In July Detroit staged its reception for the returning
Polar Bears. Eleven hundred men of the 339th, showered
with roses and other summer flowers, marched in parade
around Belle Isle, then were treated to a picnic lunch,
complete with fried chicken and ice cream. The letter
addressed to the men by Detroit's Mayor James Couzens
read in part:
When you enlisted, you could not foresee what
would be your part in the struggle. You know only
that your country needed you and that you were ready,
body and soul, to give yourself to her. You enlisted.
You played your part. And now, looking back over these
long months, you can see how your share in the cause
must be estimated-not by your rank, not by the accident of your going abroad or staying home, not even by
your wounds and suffering, but solely by the devotion
and unselfishness with which you carried on the work,
great or small, that was entrusted to you.


[20]




InI July, 1( 29. a commhiission appointedi by Michigan
Goveri or Fredl W. Green left for Russia to supervise the
recovery andl return of the bodies of 'Michigan nien who
had fallen during the cam-rpaign and been buried inl
Russia. Thie commi-ission 1-inclded Gilbert T. Shilson, of'
Lansing, as chairmnan; Roy Derham, an Iron Mountain
attorney; Walter lDundon, President of the Polar Bear
Association;, and Johni C. Evans and \licbael J. Macalla,
both of D~etroit.
Miacalla has written ani interesting acc-ount, of this conui
mission's work in Russia, a copy of' which is on (leposit
in the NI ichilgan Historical Collectionls..Altogether. the remrains of eighty-six mien were recoveredl for rebuirial in the United States, and of these,
fifty w i'e imterredl in the Polar Bear Plot of XWhite Chapel
Memorial C'emetery in Troy, -Michigan.


[ 21 ]




)ar Bc.




Bibliographic Note
Among the published accounts of the Polar Bears'
campaign in northern Russia are several by participants,
including Harry J. Costello's Why Did We Go To Rulssia?
and The History of the American Expedition Fighting
the Bolsheviki, by Joel R. Moore, Harry H. Mead and
Lewis E. Jahns. Published inl 1920, the year after the
Expedition's return to America, these works are especially
valuable for the strong feelings expressed and for the
many details, still fresh in the minds of the writers.
Lieutenailt C(olonel Moore, who had collaborated with
Mead 'and Jahns on the work noted above, also published
a separate account of the expedition in the July, 1926
issue of Infantry Journal. The article is ably written and
illustrated with pictures and maps.
In 1924, another participant,,ieutenant John Cudahy,
published anonymously his Archangel: The American
War With Russia. Iike the other personal accounts, this
book is interesting for its reflection of the attitude of a
member of the expedition, but as E. M. Halliday has
pointed out, Cudahy sometimes approached incoherence
in his emotional descriptions of battlefield situations.
Halliday's own recent work, The Ignorant Armies, is an
excellent account by a non-participant. Published in
)958, it affords a lucid narrative of the military aspects
of the campaign, but also provides information on contemporary international politics which helps to place
the expedition in its historical context. Also important are
Halliday's bibliography and his discussions of sources for
individual chapters, helpful guides for those interested in
the general subject of the Polar Bears.


[23]




In 1963 the Michigan Historical Collections of The
University of Michigan, believing that the exploits of
the Polar Bears might yet be more adequately researched.
undertook a project of locating and preserving source
materials pertaining to the campaign. With the enthusiastic cooperation of John Boren and the other officers
and members of the Polar Bear Association, the Historical
Collections began the program of unearthing the diaries,
letters, photograph albums, camp newspapers, reminiscences and other materials, which detail the actions and
feelings of Michigan men involved in that strange early
combat between soldiers of the United States and the
Soviet Union.
The Polar Bear materials, preserved under the name
of each man whose papers have been placed in the Michigan Historical Collections, are continually being supplemented by additional papers. They comprise both a
lasting memorial to the men who served, and a significant
resource for historical research. Through examination of
these materials, it is hoped that a more complete understanding and appreciation of the individual soldier's
reaction, both to his task and to his environment, may
finally be attained.
One of the largest of the Polar Bear collections is that
of "A" Company's Lieutenant Hugh D. McPhail, a
Petoskey, Michigan man, holder of the British Military
Cross. The McPhail Papers consist in part of scrapbooks in
which a broad assortment of items is found, including a
clipping containing an interesting letter from McPhail to
his mother, a poem by Clayton Hutchinson entitled. "A
Soldier's Christmas in Russia," and clippings pertaining
to the alleged "mutiny" of March, 1919. There are also
orders, citations, casualty lists and a field message book
containing memos and dispatches, some written in Russian, from Captain Otto Odjard.
Diaries kept during the expedition are found in the


[24]




papers of George Albers, Edward Flaherty, Silver Parrish,
Charles B. Ryan, Clarence G. Scheu, James B. Sibley.
Kenneth A. Skellenger, Gordon W. Smith, and Edward
Trombley. The diary in the Albers Collection is not that
of Albers, but rather is anonymous, possibly kept by Fred
Kooyers of "E" Company. Albers, of Muskegon, Michigan, was taken prisoner by the Soviets and held in Moscow
for some six months. Included in his collection are papers
relating to the Howard H. Pellegror Post, Number 3734,
of the Veterans of Foreign Wars for the years 94o0- 1 945,
and also a safe-conduct from his Soviet captors permitting
him to travel out of Russia.
The Edward Flaherty Collection contains a field diary,
detailing the activities of Company "H" on the Onega
front, and a large number of pictures of the American
troops and their North Russian surroundings photographed by the American Red Cross. A particularly useful
journal is the diary of Silver Parrish, a xerox copy of
which is in the Michigan Historical Collections. Parrish,
now a Bay City resident, served with "B" Company on
the Dvina River front. The diary combines battlefield
notes with extensive comments on the life of the Russian
peasantry.
A diary together with a large number of letters written
home to Detroit have been preserved in the papers of
Lieutenant Charles B. Ryan. Ryan, holder of the British
Military Cross and the French Croix de Guerre, commented in his writings on the Russian people, the progress
of the expedition, and the friction between American
and British officers.
The Clarence G. Scheu diary is a day-by-day account
running from July, 11 8. to July, 1919. Scheu, serving on
the Dvina front with Company "B", recorded vivid
descriptions of combat experiences, and also conditions
on board the troopship Nagoya and the river scow transporting the Americans to the fighting front. Comments


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on the daily routine of the soldier at the front and his
attempts to maintain some standards of comfort and
cleanliness are found in the diary of James B. Sibley. The
Sibley Papers also contain items pertaining to the termination of the 339th's service in Russia and its return to
Detroit.
The petition addressed to the Bolshevik soldiers is
found in the diary of Detroiter, Kenneth A. Skellenger, a
member of "A" Company. Also included in the Skellenger
Papers is a lengthy letter written home on April o1, 1919,
containing comments on rations, mail deliveries and
other concerns of the men at the front.
A xerox copy of the Gordon W. Smith diary is preserved in the Polar Bear collection. The Smith diary contains a day-by-day account of the activities of Company
"D", in which Smith served as a platoon sergeant, and
also clippings, maps and a company roster. A roster for
the second platoon of "A" Comlpany is found in the
papers of Edward Trombley of Bay City, who was awarded
fthe British Military Medal for advancing under enemy
fire to rescue wounded comrades. The Trombley Papers
include clippings, a diary and two letters which he received while serving in Russia.
Information supplementing that found in diaries and
correspondence is contained in other types of personal
accounts. There is, for example, a typescript copy of a
Detroit Free Press article by Glen L. Shannon. Shannon,
a private with "F" Company, and a member of the editorial staff of the Grand Rapids Herald before his induction, wrote the article in March, 19l9, after his return
from Russia. In the article he commented extensively
on conditions in Archangel when the American troops
first arrived.
In the papers of Jay H. Bonnell, a Bay City Polar Bear,
there is a typescript of a reminiscence of the expedition.
In addition, the Bonnell Collection contains an album


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of photographs covering military aspects of the campaign
and also views of Archangel and northern Russia. There
is also a short reminiscence in the papers of E. D. Bruce,
together with several songs composed by Bruce pertaining to the Polar Bears.
Of considerable significance is Captain Henry Katz's
resunme of medical activities in northern Russia. This
four-page contemporary account describes the work of
American medical men in treating sick and wounded
among the military, and also in ministering to Russian
civilian victims of influenza.
The papers of John Boren, another I)etroiter, pertain
not only to the 1) i8- ()) campaign itself, but also to
the later activities of the Polar Bear veterans. A number
of clippings are among the materials, some having to do
with the eventual return of the bodies of those who had
fallen and been buried in Russia. There is also a Red
Cross pamphlet containing useful Russian words or
expressions, and a numrber of postcards with views of
Archangel and of France.
Pictures of Archangel are also found in the papers of
B. F. Broaddus and Alex Heath. In the Broaddus Collection, there are newspaper clippings concerning the Polar
Bears' return to Detroit, and a menu for 'Thanksgiving
Day in Russia. A map detailing lines of commlunication
on the I)vina River front is part of the Heath Collection.
Two letters from General Edimund Ironside. the highly
respected British conmmander of the Allied forces, are
included in the papers of Detroit's Captain Otto Od jard.
The Odjard Collection also has a list of British decorations awarded to American and other Allied soldiers
serving in the Archangel campaign. Odjard himself was
awarded the British Military Cross.
In addition to the published memoirs and other works
already cited, numerous other printed items pertaining
to the Expedition have been deposited in the Historical


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Collections. These include A Compendium of the Life
of the Polar Bear Association, Embracing the Constitution, By-Laws and Notes of General Interest; also Names
of Past Presidents and Honorary Members, prepared by
Michael J. Macalla, Hugh I). McPhail and Adolph Anselmi; and a file of the programs for the biennial reunions
of the Polar Bear Association. In addition, there are ten
issues (December, 191 8 to May, I ()) of the American
Sentinel, published in Archangel by the Red Cross for
the American troops, and five issues of the Trident,
published on board the USS Von Steuben, containing a
well-written summary of the campaign. Similarly, there
are two numbers of the Duckboard, published at Camp
Ontanezen, France, with articles pertaining to the return
of the Polar Bears from Russia and their combat there.
In 1923, Dorothea York's TIhe Romance of Company
'A' was published. This work is not fiction, as the title
may imply, but rather a fairly comprehensive account of
one company's role in the North Russian campaign.
Finally, there is a story of the expedition, The Defense of
Ust Padenga, by Daniel H. Steele, printed in the October
20, 1922 issue of The American Legion Weekly.


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