Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Soldier from Bay City, Mich., member of Co. B, 339th U.S. Infantry who served in the Allied intervention in Russia, 1918-1920, the "Polar Bear Expedition." Collection includes diaries which give an account of his service in Russia with the Polar Bear expedition, including sympathetic references to the Bolsheviks.

The diary, Sept. 1918-April 1919, a photocopy, describes his sympathy for the Russian people and the Bolshevik cause, his impressions of Russian life, housing, crops, food, and marriage, as well as fighting at Seltso, Sept. and Oct. 1918, and Toulgas, Oct. 1918. He also describes the difficulties in which he found himself in March 1919, when he drew up a petition protesting the presence of American troops in Russia after the end of the war. A transcript of the petition is included. The original of the diary is owned by Parrish.

Soldier from Hart, Mich., member of Co. H, 339th U.S. Infantry who served in the Allied intervention in Russia, 1918-1920, the "Polar Bear Expedition." Collection includes diary, undated narrative, and newspaper clipping from the Hart Journal describing his military training at Fort Custer, Michigan, and his combat experience in Russia; also visual materials.

This collection contains physical files as well as digital material. In this finding aid, the collection has been arranged into two series, Papers and Visual Materials.

The Visual Materials consists of digitized images; the original papers and/or photographs are owned by the donor. The digital items in this collection were digitized from originals by the individual donors before being received by the Bentley Historical Library. Preservation copies of these files with their original file names and CD-ROM file structures intact have been submitted to Deep Blue. Access copies of these digital files can be viewed by clicking on the link next to the individual folder in the Content List below. Within this series, files are listed numerically according to the file arrangement they were given by the donor. The file in this collection is in TIF format. Includes a digitized portrait of Private Roy Paul Rasmussen, Co. H, 339th Infantry, in uniform, ca. 1918.

The Papers, all photocopied reproductions, include a diary, June 1918-July 1919, containing descriptions of his travels, the food and weather in Russia, and actions on the Onega front, especially fighting in and near Chekuevo, Sep. and Oct. 1918 and Jan. 1919, and at Bolshie Ozerki, March and April 1919; and a reminiscence covering the period June 1918-March 1919, probably written from the diary, that also contains a list of casualties in Co. H, descriptions of a numbered series of photos produced by the Red Cross, and two poems, "The Creation of Russia" and "The Day of Do or Die." Also included are newspaper clippings containing letters from Rasmussen describing his first days in Russia. The originals of the papers are owned by Dale Rasmussen, Shelby, Mich.

Member of Co. E, 310th Engineers, U.S. Army who served in the Allied intervention in Russia, 1918-1920, the "Polar Bear Expedition." Collection includes correspondence and personal miscellanea concerning the Polar Bear Expedition.

The papers include correspondence, Aug. 1918-July 1919, describing mapping expeditions, weather, scenery, shopping and baths in Archangel, and Russian houses and stoves (with diagrams). Also included are an essay "What Ails the ANREF?" dated April-May 1919, describing the causes of low morale among the troops; several poems about camp life; a copy of the final report of the 310th Engineers detailing construction projects completed; and a copy of The Midnight Sun, printed on the U.S.S. Steigerwald while the troops were being returned to the United States.