The "Polar Bears" were a Michigan Army regiment sent to Russia in the waning months of World War I. "At the urging of Britain and France," notes a plaque at this monument, which was erected at the graves of dozens of Polar Bears who never made it back. The Cold War got all of the press, but the Polar Bears were the only American soldiers who actually fought Russians in real combat. It was a secret war, meant to punish the Commies for signing a peace deal with the Kaiser. It was not successful, nor popular with the Polar Bears.
The large, scowling bear, made of marble, guards a helmet and a cross at its feet, defending Christianity and America's right to invade places that it doesn't like. "Our country, right or wrong," is inscribed on its base. The surviving Polar Bears held annual reunions at the monument until 1983, but they're all dead now.
