Voices of a Never Ending Dawn

Pamela Peak’s Emmy-Nominated Feature-Length Documentary Film on PBS

A two-hour film capturing hearts and minds all across America

THE STORY: Told in the haunting words of the young soldiers themselves, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson is forced to select 5,500 American soldiers to fight an unknown enemy called “Bolsheviks” (an early name for Communists). Stripped of everything American and placed under British command, they find themselves quartered in a frozen hell, fighting in sixty degree below zero weather, eight long months after WWI had ended. Those that survived calledd themselves “The Polar Bears”. And now, for the first time in history, America will come to know that the Cold War did not begin without fire. See a preview at: Voices 5-Minute Preview

The Voices Come to Life

Polar Bear soldiers in Russia

Award-winning filmmaker Pamela Peak takes us on an emotional journey inside these young men’s hearts and minds as they struggle not only with the hardships of war but also with the thought that their country had forgotten them. Their mission became known as “the acid test of loyalty to country”.

Wondering if their sons are dead or alive, the parents back home petitioned Washington D.C. to bring their sons home. And as a result of their actions, they became the first American citizens to change U.S. foreign policy.

Senator Carl LevinThe film documents how U.S. Senator Carl Levin gave a Congressional Tribute to these brave men, after discovering lost historical documents about the American North Russian Expedition.  Theirs is a story with lessons to remember each and every time we send our sons and daughters off to war.

“It was the voices of the soldiers – those eloquent words in the young men’s diaries that made these men so real. It’s almost as if they were waiting for someone to ‘hear their voices’ long after they were gone. As a writer I simply reached back into time and listened. A more powerful story I have never heard. Their voices now live on to inspire a new generation.” —Pamela Peak, Writer, Producer & Director To purchase a DVD see: Voices of a Never Ending Dawn DVDs
Airing Nationally on PBS

Check your local PBS station listings. Voices of a Never Ending Dawn usually airs around Memorial Day (May) and Veterans's Day (November), although some stations have aired it at other times of the year, sometimes for specific local holidays.

Awards
State of Michigan
  • 2010 State History Award for Media: Michigan Historical Society
  • 2010 Emmy Nominee:
    Best Audio
Photos
Actor Alex Alexandrou playing
Sgt. Silver K. Parrish
WWI Bolshevik soldier reenactors
in battle scene
Film reenactment: a mother
petitions Congress
Filming during the below-zero
5-day blizzard