  Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1506 Registered: 12-2005 |
On the evening of Wednesday April 16, 2008, Dr. Roger Crownover will give a presentation about the WW I American North Russia Expeditionary Force, also known as the Polar Bears, which included "Detroit's Own" 339th Infantry Regiment. The presentation will begin at 7:30 pm at the Troy (MI) Museum & Historic Village. Dr. Crownover is the author of "The United States Intervention in North Russia – 1918, 1919 : The Polar Bear Odyssey". He serves as Chair of Madonna University’s History Department, where he has taught for over thirty years. The public is invited to attend this special presentation which is being sponsored by the Troy Historical Society. The lecture is free for Society members; the fee for non-members is $5 at the door. The lecture will be held in the Old Troy Church at the Museum, which is located at 60 W. Wattles Rd. (17 Mile), just west of Livernois [map]. For more information about this and other Museum programs, please call (248) 524-3570 or visit the Museum's “Troy Today” web page. | ||
The_rock Member Username: The_rock Post Number: 2182 Registered: 11-2003 |
I will try to make that presentation. I had the opportunity to only meet one "Polar Bear" in my lifetime, Bob Plunkett, founding member of the Plunkett Cooney law firm back in 1965. I believe he is buried with his comrades at White Chapel. Hudson Mead is a GP attorney and I believe his father was a Polar Bear also. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1511 Registered: 12-2005 |
According to the 1962 Polar Bear Association Reunion Program, Bob Plunkett served in Company D of the 339th Infantry Regiment. Hudson Mead's father was Harry Mead, who served in North Russia as a Lieutenant in Company A of the 339th Infantry Regiment. Harry was also an attorney who practiced in Detroit and later in Milford, MI. Here is a February 1959 Detroit News article about Harry's exploits in North Russia. This is the Dec. 1958 American Heritage Magazine story that is referenced in the Detroit News article about Mead. I had the pleasure of attending Hudson Mead's presentation to the GP Senior Men's Club last November on the subject of the Polar Bears and his father's experiences. During his speech, Hudson mentioned that when his father was a teen growing up in Valpariso, Indiana, Harry's parents would provide room and board to students from Valpariso University. One of those students happened to be a young man named Lowell Thomas and some eight years later in August 1918, Harry and Lowell had a chance meeting on a street corner in London, England. Harry was enjoying a one day pass from Camp Cowshot in nearby Brookwood, Surrey, where the 339th had just arrived from the US and was preparing to join the fighting on the Western Front in France. Lowell had just returned from the Middle East where he had been following and filming T.E. Lawrence (aka "Lawrence of Arabia"). When Harry told Lowell where he was headed, Lowell told him that he had just heard from British government sources that his regiment was actually heading for North Russia! In 1920, Harry and two other officers from the 339th wrote a book, "The History of The American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki". (Message edited by Mikeg on March 15, 2008) | ||
The_rock Member Username: The_rock Post Number: 2183 Registered: 11-2003 |
I see Hudson at the Ecumenical Breakfasts on Friday mornings at GP Memorial Church, although I do not belong the Sr. Men's Club. Thanks for the info, Mikeg | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1514 Registered: 12-2005 |
I'm not a member of the Sr. Men's Club, either. Hudson invited me and several others to be his guests that day. At age 55, I think I was the youngest man in the room! | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1578 Registered: 12-2005 |
bump | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 1214 Registered: 11-2007 |
Thanks for the bump Mikeg - I didn't even see this thread before. I will try to be there. |
