Member of the American Expeditionary Force, North Russia AEF in North Russia
339th Infantry
Five Polar Bears Return to Russia to Reclaim Their Comrades
In 1929, five former Polar Bears of the 339th Infantry Regiment returned to north Russia to
attempt to recover the bodies of fellow soldiers who had been killed in action or died of exposure
or disease ten years earlier. The Polar Bear Association, backed by the Veterans of Foreign
Wars, the State of Michigan and the Federal Government sponsored the former Polar Bears.
The Benton Harbor News-Palladium of June 4, 1929, spelled out some details about the
Commission of five former Polar Bears. Michigan Governor Fred W. Green announced that the
Michigan State Legislature had appropriated $15,000 to finance a Commission to locate and
“care for” the bodies of the 226 men of the North Russian Expeditionary Force who had died in
or around Archangel, with an estimated 114 buried in obscure locations. The Federal
Government charged the Commission with locating the graves and removing the bodies to
cemeteries in their home states or to Federal cemeteries. Governor Green’s appointees were G.T.
Shilson, Lansing, chairman; Walter Dundon, Detroit, president of the Polar Bear Association;
John C. Evans, Detroit; Ray Derham, Iron Mountain; and Michael McCalla, Detroit. All were
members of the American North Russia Expeditionary Force.20
The Ironwood Daily Globe of September 27, 1929, reported that Ray Derham, Iron Mountain, a
member of the Michigan Commission went to Russia to locate the bodies of soldiers of the Polar
Bear Division.
Polar Bear Ray Derham
Ray Derham of Iron Mountain, a member of the Michigan Commission, who arrived in Russia
on September 26, 1929, reported that the Commission had found 80 of the 114 men lost. “You
can’t appreciate what the success of the expedition meant to us,” he said. The rest of the group
was scheduled to return from the east in a few days.
The October 10, 1929 News-Palladium of Benton Harbor continued the story, with a headline
proclaiming that: Train Bears Soldier Dead to Leningrad. Caskets Draped with Stars and Stripes.
Peasants Revere Their Memory.
The story, date- lined Leningrad, said that the bodies of 86 Michigan soldiers who died on the
only battlefront of the World War north of the Arctic Circle reached here Wednesday after the
first stage of their long journey back to their homeland. Wrapped in the Stars and Stripes, their
bodies lay in a special train placed at the disposal of the American Graves Commission by the
Soviet government. As the train steamed slowly southward from Murmansk in the north of the
White Sea, peasants stood in reverential attitudes and made the sign of the cross along the warbuilt
railroad leading to this city. The journey took a little more than a day.
When the train reached the Arctic Circle, a group of Red Army soldiers saluted the fallen
Doughboys from across the seas who at one time in the campaign had been classed as their
enemies.
The soldier dead belong to the Polar Bear Division which served on the Archangel Front A
through the bitter winter of 1918-1919. A commission of American Veterans of Foreign Wars
came from Michigan to search out the bodies and arrange for the transport homeward.
Identifications were not always possible because some crosses were missing from the graves, but
most of the soldiers were known to have come from Detroit and the vicinity. From here the
bodies will be carried by steamer to Havre, France. From there they will be conveyed with
highest honors by an American Warship to their native land and ultimately will rest in the soil of
Michigan.
There is a wide disparity in casualty figures for the American North Russia Expeditionary Force
with military, print, and individual soldier’s accounts giving different numbers, including figures
from the National Archives. To the men of the Polar Commission, the numbers were
superimposed with faces and memories and loss.
Searching Russia for Lonely Polar Bear Graves
The Benton Harbor News- Palladium of October 18, 1929, details how the Commission
members searched the Port of Archangel for their fallen comrades and what they found:21
Found in Port of Archangel
Second Lieutenant Marcus Y. Casey, New Richmond, Wisconsin. Company C. 339th Infantry.
Died Sept. 16, 1918. Died of Disease. .
Harold Bayer, Company F
Pvt. Chester Wallace Berryhill. Company F. Buried in White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery
Polar Bear Memorial, Troy, Michigan. Died of Disease. 22
Pvt. William H. Dusablon, Trenton, Michigan. Company H., 339th Infantry. Died of disease on
Sept. 18, 1918. He is buried in White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery, Polar Bear Memorial,
Troy, Michigan.
Pvt. Leo N. Finnegan. Grand Rapids, Michigan, Company B. 339th Infantry. Died September 17,
1918. Died of Disease. Buried in Whitechapel Memorial Cemetery, Polar Bear Monument,
Troy, Michigan.
339th Infantry
Five Polar Bears Return to Russia to Reclaim Their Comrades
In 1929, five former Polar Bears of the 339th Infantry Regiment returned to north Russia to
attempt to recover the bodies of fellow soldiers who had been killed in action or died of exposure
or disease ten years earlier. The Polar Bear Association, backed by the Veterans of Foreign
Wars, the State of Michigan and the Federal Government sponsored the former Polar Bears.
The Benton Harbor News-Palladium of June 4, 1929, spelled out some details about the
Commission of five former Polar Bears. Michigan Governor Fred W. Green announced that the
Michigan State Legislature had appropriated $15,000 to finance a Commission to locate and
“care for” the bodies of the 226 men of the North Russian Expeditionary Force who had died in
or around Archangel, with an estimated 114 buried in obscure locations. The Federal
Government charged the Commission with locating the graves and removing the bodies to
cemeteries in their home states or to Federal cemeteries. Governor Green’s appointees were G.T.
Shilson, Lansing, chairman; Walter Dundon, Detroit, president of the Polar Bear Association;
John C. Evans, Detroit; Ray Derham, Iron Mountain; and Michael McCalla, Detroit. All were
members of the American North Russia Expeditionary Force.20
The Ironwood Daily Globe of September 27, 1929, reported that Ray Derham, Iron Mountain, a
member of the Michigan Commission went to Russia to locate the bodies of soldiers of the Polar
Bear Division.
Polar Bear Ray Derham
Ray Derham of Iron Mountain, a member of the Michigan Commission, who arrived in Russia
on September 26, 1929, reported that the Commission had found 80 of the 114 men lost. “You
can’t appreciate what the success of the expedition meant to us,” he said. The rest of the group
was scheduled to return from the east in a few days.
The October 10, 1929 News-Palladium of Benton Harbor continued the story, with a headline
proclaiming that: Train Bears Soldier Dead to Leningrad. Caskets Draped with Stars and Stripes.
Peasants Revere Their Memory.
The story, date- lined Leningrad, said that the bodies of 86 Michigan soldiers who died on the
only battlefront of the World War north of the Arctic Circle reached here Wednesday after the
first stage of their long journey back to their homeland. Wrapped in the Stars and Stripes, their
bodies lay in a special train placed at the disposal of the American Graves Commission by the
Soviet government. As the train steamed slowly southward from Murmansk in the north of the
White Sea, peasants stood in reverential attitudes and made the sign of the cross along the warbuilt
railroad leading to this city. The journey took a little more than a day.
When the train reached the Arctic Circle, a group of Red Army soldiers saluted the fallen
Doughboys from across the seas who at one time in the campaign had been classed as their
enemies.
The soldier dead belong to the Polar Bear Division which served on the Archangel Front A
through the bitter winter of 1918-1919. A commission of American Veterans of Foreign Wars
came from Michigan to search out the bodies and arrange for the transport homeward.
Identifications were not always possible because some crosses were missing from the graves, but
most of the soldiers were known to have come from Detroit and the vicinity. From here the
bodies will be carried by steamer to Havre, France. From there they will be conveyed with
highest honors by an American Warship to their native land and ultimately will rest in the soil of
Michigan.
There is a wide disparity in casualty figures for the American North Russia Expeditionary Force
with military, print, and individual soldier’s accounts giving different numbers, including figures
from the National Archives. To the men of the Polar Commission, the numbers were
superimposed with faces and memories and loss.
Searching Russia for Lonely Polar Bear Graves
The Benton Harbor News- Palladium of October 18, 1929, details how the Commission
members searched the Port of Archangel for their fallen comrades and what they found:21
Found in Port of Archangel
Second Lieutenant Marcus Y. Casey, New Richmond, Wisconsin. Company C. 339th Infantry.
Died Sept. 16, 1918. Died of Disease. .
Harold Bayer, Company F
Pvt. Chester Wallace Berryhill. Company F. Buried in White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery
Polar Bear Memorial, Troy, Michigan. Died of Disease. 22
Pvt. William H. Dusablon, Trenton, Michigan. Company H., 339th Infantry. Died of disease on
Sept. 18, 1918. He is buried in White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery, Polar Bear Memorial,
Troy, Michigan.
Pvt. Leo N. Finnegan. Grand Rapids, Michigan, Company B. 339th Infantry. Died September 17,
1918. Died of Disease. Buried in Whitechapel Memorial Cemetery, Polar Bear Monument,
Troy, Michigan.
Member of the American Expeditionary Force, North Russia AEF in North Russia
339th Infantry
Five Polar Bears Return to Russia to Reclaim Their Comrades
In 1929, five former Polar Bears of the 339th Infantry Regiment returned to north Russia to
attempt to recover the bodies of fellow soldiers who had been killed in action or died of exposure
or disease ten years earlier. The Polar Bear Association, backed by the Veterans of Foreign
Wars, the State of Michigan and the Federal Government sponsored the former Polar Bears.
The Benton Harbor News-Palladium of June 4, 1929, spelled out some details about the
Commission of five former Polar Bears. Michigan Governor Fred W. Green announced that the
Michigan State Legislature had appropriated $15,000 to finance a Commission to locate and
“care for” the bodies of the 226 men of the North Russian Expeditionary Force who had died in
or around Archangel, with an estimated 114 buried in obscure locations. The Federal
Government charged the Commission with locating the graves and removing the bodies to
cemeteries in their home states or to Federal cemeteries. Governor Green’s appointees were G.T.
Shilson, Lansing, chairman; Walter Dundon, Detroit, president of the Polar Bear Association;
John C. Evans, Detroit; Ray Derham, Iron Mountain; and Michael McCalla, Detroit. All were
members of the American North Russia Expeditionary Force.20
The Ironwood Daily Globe of September 27, 1929, reported that Ray Derham, Iron Mountain, a
member of the Michigan Commission went to Russia to locate the bodies of soldiers of the Polar
Bear Division.
Polar Bear Ray Derham
Ray Derham of Iron Mountain, a member of the Michigan Commission, who arrived in Russia
on September 26, 1929, reported that the Commission had found 80 of the 114 men lost. “You
can’t appreciate what the success of the expedition meant to us,” he said. The rest of the group
was scheduled to return from the east in a few days.
The October 10, 1929 News-Palladium of Benton Harbor continued the story, with a headline
proclaiming that: Train Bears Soldier Dead to Leningrad. Caskets Draped with Stars and Stripes.
Peasants Revere Their Memory.
The story, date- lined Leningrad, said that the bodies of 86 Michigan soldiers who died on the
only battlefront of the World War north of the Arctic Circle reached here Wednesday after the
first stage of their long journey back to their homeland. Wrapped in the Stars and Stripes, their
bodies lay in a special train placed at the disposal of the American Graves Commission by the
Soviet government. As the train steamed slowly southward from Murmansk in the north of the
White Sea, peasants stood in reverential attitudes and made the sign of the cross along the warbuilt
railroad leading to this city. The journey took a little more than a day.
When the train reached the Arctic Circle, a group of Red Army soldiers saluted the fallen
Doughboys from across the seas who at one time in the campaign had been classed as their
enemies.
The soldier dead belong to the Polar Bear Division which served on the Archangel Front A
through the bitter winter of 1918-1919. A commission of American Veterans of Foreign Wars
came from Michigan to search out the bodies and arrange for the transport homeward.
Identifications were not always possible because some crosses were missing from the graves, but
most of the soldiers were known to have come from Detroit and the vicinity. From here the
bodies will be carried by steamer to Havre, France. From there they will be conveyed with
highest honors by an American Warship to their native land and ultimately will rest in the soil of
Michigan.
There is a wide disparity in casualty figures for the American North Russia Expeditionary Force
with military, print, and individual soldier’s accounts giving different numbers, including figures
from the National Archives. To the men of the Polar Commission, the numbers were
superimposed with faces and memories and loss.
Searching Russia for Lonely Polar Bear Graves
The Benton Harbor News- Palladium of October 18, 1929, details how the Commission
members searched the Port of Archangel for their fallen comrades and what they found:21
Found in Port of Archangel
Second Lieutenant Marcus Y. Casey, New Richmond, Wisconsin. Company C. 339th Infantry.
Died Sept. 16, 1918. Died of Disease. .
Harold Bayer, Company F
Pvt. Chester Wallace Berryhill. Company F. Buried in White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery
Polar Bear Memorial, Troy, Michigan. Died of Disease. 22
Pvt. William H. Dusablon, Trenton, Michigan. Company H., 339th Infantry. Died of disease on
Sept. 18, 1918. He is buried in White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery, Polar Bear Memorial,
Troy, Michigan.
Pvt. Leo N. Finnegan. Grand Rapids, Michigan, Company B. 339th Infantry. Died September 17,
1918. Died of Disease. Buried in Whitechapel Memorial Cemetery, Polar Bear Monument,
Troy, Michigan.
339th Infantry
Five Polar Bears Return to Russia to Reclaim Their Comrades
In 1929, five former Polar Bears of the 339th Infantry Regiment returned to north Russia to
attempt to recover the bodies of fellow soldiers who had been killed in action or died of exposure
or disease ten years earlier. The Polar Bear Association, backed by the Veterans of Foreign
Wars, the State of Michigan and the Federal Government sponsored the former Polar Bears.
The Benton Harbor News-Palladium of June 4, 1929, spelled out some details about the
Commission of five former Polar Bears. Michigan Governor Fred W. Green announced that the
Michigan State Legislature had appropriated $15,000 to finance a Commission to locate and
“care for” the bodies of the 226 men of the North Russian Expeditionary Force who had died in
or around Archangel, with an estimated 114 buried in obscure locations. The Federal
Government charged the Commission with locating the graves and removing the bodies to
cemeteries in their home states or to Federal cemeteries. Governor Green’s appointees were G.T.
Shilson, Lansing, chairman; Walter Dundon, Detroit, president of the Polar Bear Association;
John C. Evans, Detroit; Ray Derham, Iron Mountain; and Michael McCalla, Detroit. All were
members of the American North Russia Expeditionary Force.20
The Ironwood Daily Globe of September 27, 1929, reported that Ray Derham, Iron Mountain, a
member of the Michigan Commission went to Russia to locate the bodies of soldiers of the Polar
Bear Division.
Polar Bear Ray Derham
Ray Derham of Iron Mountain, a member of the Michigan Commission, who arrived in Russia
on September 26, 1929, reported that the Commission had found 80 of the 114 men lost. “You
can’t appreciate what the success of the expedition meant to us,” he said. The rest of the group
was scheduled to return from the east in a few days.
The October 10, 1929 News-Palladium of Benton Harbor continued the story, with a headline
proclaiming that: Train Bears Soldier Dead to Leningrad. Caskets Draped with Stars and Stripes.
Peasants Revere Their Memory.
The story, date- lined Leningrad, said that the bodies of 86 Michigan soldiers who died on the
only battlefront of the World War north of the Arctic Circle reached here Wednesday after the
first stage of their long journey back to their homeland. Wrapped in the Stars and Stripes, their
bodies lay in a special train placed at the disposal of the American Graves Commission by the
Soviet government. As the train steamed slowly southward from Murmansk in the north of the
White Sea, peasants stood in reverential attitudes and made the sign of the cross along the warbuilt
railroad leading to this city. The journey took a little more than a day.
When the train reached the Arctic Circle, a group of Red Army soldiers saluted the fallen
Doughboys from across the seas who at one time in the campaign had been classed as their
enemies.
The soldier dead belong to the Polar Bear Division which served on the Archangel Front A
through the bitter winter of 1918-1919. A commission of American Veterans of Foreign Wars
came from Michigan to search out the bodies and arrange for the transport homeward.
Identifications were not always possible because some crosses were missing from the graves, but
most of the soldiers were known to have come from Detroit and the vicinity. From here the
bodies will be carried by steamer to Havre, France. From there they will be conveyed with
highest honors by an American Warship to their native land and ultimately will rest in the soil of
Michigan.
There is a wide disparity in casualty figures for the American North Russia Expeditionary Force
with military, print, and individual soldier’s accounts giving different numbers, including figures
from the National Archives. To the men of the Polar Commission, the numbers were
superimposed with faces and memories and loss.
Searching Russia for Lonely Polar Bear Graves
The Benton Harbor News- Palladium of October 18, 1929, details how the Commission
members searched the Port of Archangel for their fallen comrades and what they found:21
Found in Port of Archangel
Second Lieutenant Marcus Y. Casey, New Richmond, Wisconsin. Company C. 339th Infantry.
Died Sept. 16, 1918. Died of Disease. .
Harold Bayer, Company F
Pvt. Chester Wallace Berryhill. Company F. Buried in White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery
Polar Bear Memorial, Troy, Michigan. Died of Disease. 22
Pvt. William H. Dusablon, Trenton, Michigan. Company H., 339th Infantry. Died of disease on
Sept. 18, 1918. He is buried in White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery, Polar Bear Memorial,
Troy, Michigan.
Pvt. Leo N. Finnegan. Grand Rapids, Michigan, Company B. 339th Infantry. Died September 17,
1918. Died of Disease. Buried in Whitechapel Memorial Cemetery, Polar Bear Monument,
Troy, Michigan.
Gravesite Details
Next to Reva Treadwell Derham.
