Polar Bear Memorial, (sculpture).

Polar Bear Memorial, (sculpture).

Hermant, Leon, 1866-1936, sculptor.

Polar Bear Memorial, (sculpture).

Dedicated May 30, 1930.

Sculpture: white Georgia marble; Base: black Swedish granite.

Sculpture: approx. 4 x 3 x 6 ft.; Base: approx. 5 x 5 x 8 ft.

(Plaque on front of base, raised lettering:) OUR COUNTRY IN HER/INTERCOURSE WITH FOREIGN/NATIONS MAY SHE ALWAYS/BE IN THE RIGHT; BUT OUR/COUNTRY RIGHT OR WRONG/STEPHEN DECATUR/(Lower plaque:) IN MEMORY OF THE/VETERANS OF THE/NORTH RUSSIAN EXPEDITIONARY/1918.FORCES.1919/DEDICATED MAY 30, 1930 unsigned

A polar bear advancing menacingly and protectively past a cross with a World War I helmet strapped to it. The sculpture is mounted upon a stepped, castellated base of polished Swedish black granite.

History -- United States -- World War I

History -- United States -- Polar Bear Expedition

Emblem -- Cross

Dress -- Accessory -- Helmet

Architecture -- Monument -- Gravestone

Outdoor Sculpture -- Michigan -- Troy

Administered by White Chapel Memorial Cemetery, Administration Office, 901 Wilshire Drive, Suite 205, Troy, Michigan 48084

Located White Chapel Memorial Cemetery, 621 West Long Lake Road, Section B, Troy, Michigan 48098

Monument commemorates the "Polar Bears," a group of soldiers from Michigan's 339th Infantry Regiment, who were sent to Archangel in northern Russia in 1918 at the end of World War I to prevent a German advance and to help reopen the Eastern Front. The soldiers fought Bolshevik revolutionaries for months in the frozen terrain after the Armistice ended fighting in France, arriving in September of 1918, and seeing their last fighting in April, 1919. Ninety-four soldiers were killed in action before the United States decided to withdraw. Public attention was drawn to the expedition in 1929 when two commissions, one appointed by the governor of Michigan and the other organized by the Veterans of Foreign Wars for the War Department, went to Archangel to recover the bodies of American soldiers killed in the expedition. Fifty-six of the eighty-six remains they found were returned for burial with honors around the Polar Bear Memorial, which was dedicated on Memorial Day, 1930. The memorial has been designated a Historic Site by the State of Michigan. The black granite base of the memorial symbolizes a fortress, and the cross and helmet denote war burial.

For related information see: The Detroit Free Press, May 30, 1930, pg. 1, 2. IAS files contain a diagram from the time of the dedication in May of 1930, showing the graves of those soldiers then buried around the memorial, with names. IAS files contain transcriptions of two nearby plaques. IAS files contain a related article from Michigan History Magazine 15 (Spring 1931), pg. 308, 312. IAS files also contain a related article about the dedication from the Detroit Press, May 31, 1930, pg. 24; and, related sections from "The Polar Bear Expedition," Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1988, compiled by Leonard A. Coombs. IAS files contain three related articles from the Detroit Free Press from mid-to-late 1980s, all dated "Memorial Day," and one specifically dated "Memorial Day 1987." IAS files contain a related section from a publication entitled "A Glimpse of White Chapel." IAS files contain photocopies of historic photographs, including some of the dedication ceremony, and others of undated Memorial Day reunion ceremonies of expedition soldiers at the memorial.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Michigan survey, 1993.

Coombs, Leonard A., "The Polar Bear Exposition," Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1988, cover.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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