By Terry Oparka
C & G Staff Writer

TROY — The Michigan men left their families, farms and jobs on the assembly line to fight for freedom on foreign soil in 60-below-zero temperatures.

It was 1918, Woodrow Wilson was president, and the men of the Army 339th Infantry, the 310 Engineers, and the 337th Ambulance and Hospital Companies — some 5,500 Michigan soldiers — got orders to serve in northern Russia during World War I to fight the communist Bolsheviks. They fought in the frozen arctic for eight months after the war was over, and on their journey home to Michigan, they decided to call themselves the Polar Bears.

Documentary filmmaker Pamela Peak, whose grandfather, Guy Campus, was one of the Polar Bears, filmed the Polar Bears’ story in northern Michigan this past January in blizzard conditions, and at the Troy Museum and Historic Village and adjacent parkland a year ago. The story is based on personal diaries. The soldiers’ story, titled “Voices of a Never-Ending Dawn,” so named for the midnight sun the soldiers fought in, will air on PBS WTVS Channel 56 Nov. 8.

Helping fund the film were Peak’s cousin, Sgt. Maj. Larry Chase of Troy; White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery in Troy, where 56 Polar Bears are laid to rest near the Polar Bear Memorial; the American Legion Department of Michigan; and veterans groups from across the state and country.

Peak’s award-winning documentary “Colorblind,” also aired on WTVS. She explained that the PBS mission is to educate, inspire and entertain, and “I aim to deliver that,” she said. “I am proud to the filmmaker telling that (Polar Bears’) story.”

Saginaw-based actor Alex Alexandrou plays Sgt. Silver Parrish, who is buried at the foot of the Polar Bear Monument. Peak learned in her research that Parrish questioned the mission of the Polar Bears, who were under the direction of the British. He was threatened with court martial and death. “But both the British and the Americans realized Silver’s questions were valid,” Peak said. His court martial was called off, and he was awarded the British Medal of Honor.

Alexandrou, of Greek descent and originally from England, met with Silver’s nephew, who loved Alexandrou’s portrayal of his uncle, Peak said.

“It’s nice to be a part of American history,” Alexandrou said.

Charles Ray of Bay City appeared in the film in World War I garb. Ray’s grandfather was a Polar Bear. Ray said his grandfather came home, put his shotgun up and never used it again because he said he knew what it felt like to be hunted.

David Krall, vice president of White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery, said the first memorial ceremony for the Polar Bears was held at the cemetery in 1930, after the men who served in northern Russia went back to that country in 1929 to retrieve and bring home the bodies of fallen Polar Bears.

Krall said there was a procession from Detroit to White Chapel, and the bodies were interred under 24-hour military guard until they were laid to rest in that first ceremony, which  10,000 people attended.

Noted sculptor Leon Hermont created the memorial, Krall said.

There has been a memorial service every Memorial Day since 1930 to honor the Polar Bears, which on average, 400 people attend, Krall said. “It’s an American story, Michigan story, metro Detroit story and Troy story. It’s part of our history. It’s a great documentary.

U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, attended the film premiere with more than 300 others at the White Chapel Temple of Memories on Memorial Day weekend. More than 800 people saw the film at White Chapel that weekend. Levin appears briefly in the film.

The film will be broadcast at 3 p.m. on WTVS Nov. 8. For more information on the film, visit www.PolarBearDocumentary.com.

You can reach Staff Writer Terry Oparka at toparka@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1054.