author
Harry H. Mead
Best known for helping compile a firsthand history of the American Expedition fighting in North Russia after World War I, this little-known writer is closely tied to one of the most unusual episodes in U.S. military history. His surviving work has endured because it preserves the voices and experiences of the so-called Polar Bears in vivid, contemporary detail.
1 Audiobook
The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki Campaigning in North Russia 1918-1919
by Joel R. (Joel Roscoe) Moore, Lewis E. Jahns, Harry H. Mead
About the author
Harry H. Mead is credited as one of the compilers and editors of The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki; Campaigning in North Russia 1918–1919, first published in 1920. Library and catalog records identify him as Lt. Harry H. Mead and list him alongside Joel R. Moore and Lewis E. Jahns, all connected with the 339th U.S. Infantry.
That book remains Mead's clearest legacy. Rather than being remembered for a large body of literary work, he is associated with a single, valuable historical volume about the American Expeditionary Force in North Russia, often called the Polar Bear Expedition. Because the record is sparse, many personal details about his life are not easy to confirm, but his role in preserving this chapter of history is well documented.
For audiobook listeners and history readers, Mead's appeal lies in that sense of immediacy: his work helps capture how participants in the campaign wanted it remembered, only a short time after the events themselves. Even with little biographical information available, his name remains linked to a rare firsthand account of a little-known American military mission.