White Chapel Memorial Cemetery

Polar Bear Memorial

The state of Michigan dedicated a memorial on May 30, 1930, honoring the U.S. Army's Polar Bear Expedition. It recognizes the efforts of the American North Russia Expeditionary Force (ANREF) against the Bolshevik Red Army in North Russia during 1918 and 1919. The remains of 56 ANREF soldiers exhumed from Russia were on this occasion re-buried in plots surrounding the Polar Bear Monument by sculptor Leon Hermant.

Discrimination

On August 10, 1960, an honorably discharged 66-year-old World War I veteran, George Vincent Nash, was removed from resting alongside his Caucasian wife at the White Chapel Cemetery.

The action took place immediately following the graveside service because Nash was a full-blooded Ho-Chunk (also known as Winnebago) or Native American. The explanation was that 40,000 plot owners "had paid for the restriction" for the type of people that could be buried at White Chapel Cemetery. According to the cemetery's officials, corpses had to be at least 75% Caucasian to be buried at White Chapel. The governor, G. Mennen Williams, was concerned about the legality of the cemetery's actions. However, the Michigan state legislatures in both 1961 and 1962, failed to pass bills that would have prohibited cemeteries to discriminate who could be interred in them on the basis of race.

Notable burials

• Jack Adams (ice hockey player)
• Eileen "Terry" Ambrose (actress and model)
• Brace Beemer (radio announcer and actor)
• William S. Broomfield (US Congressman)
• Donald Byrd (musician)
• Russell Clark (member of the John Dillinger gang
• John DeLorean (engineer and automaker)
• Roy August Fruehauf (president of Freuhauf Trailer Corporation)
• Ebbie Goodfellow (hall of fame professional hockey player and coach)
• Josephine Hoffa (wife of Jimmy Hoffa)
• Lee Iacocca (businessman)
• Albert Kahn (architect)
• Devan Nair (Former President of Singapore)
• Jack Kevorkian (American pathologist and euthanasia activist) Plot: Section H, 6178
• Clem Koshorek (baseball player) Plot: Garden of Prayer, Section 638-1
• J. P. McCarthy (radio personality)
• Douglas Ramsay (figure skater)
• Mauri Rose (racecar driver) Garden of Prayer, Section C, Grave #275
• Eero Saarinen (architect)
• Robert Shumard (WWII United States army air corps soldier)
• Murray Van Wagoner (Michigan Governor)
• Bobby Veach (baseball player) Plot: Mausoleum, First Floor, Section #1212

Notes

References

1. (19 December 2015). "Saturday, December 19, 2015".
2. Sobczak, John. (2009). "A Motor City year". Wayne State University Press.
3. (30 May 1930). "Burials at the Polar Bear Monument, White Chapel Cemetery, Troy, Michigan".
4. Sobczak, John. (2009). "A Motor City year". Wayne State University Press.
5. Bak, Richard. (2010). "Boneyards: Detroit under ground". Wayne State University Press.
6. (12 August 1960). "Indian Denied Burial; Barred From Cemetery in Detroit Because of Race". [[The New York Times]].
7. Fine, Sidney. (2000). "Expanding the frontiers of civil rights: Michigan, 1948 - 1968". Wayne State University Press.
8. (22 August 1960). "RACES: Segregation After Death".
9. (1994). "History and Memory in African-American Culture". Oxford University Press.
10. (13 August 1960). "Indian Denied Burial Gets Military Honors". [[The Gadsden Times]].