Ogemaw County resident Harvey J. Dunbar, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Dunbar, entered active duty as a member of the United States Army on Oct. 16, 1943. Before enlisting, he was employed as a driver on the Detroit Street Railways. He married Erlis Jenins of Detroit on Dec. 24, 1940.

After enlisting in 1943, he underwent 17 weeks of basic training at Camp Fannin, Texas. He went overseas to Ireland in March 1944. In May 1944, he was sent to England to prepare for the invasion of Europe. He became a member of the 38^th Infantry Regiment, which was part of the famous U.S. 2^nd Infantry Division. The 2^nd Division was sent to France shortly after D-Day and became involved in the heavy fighting on the Normandy front. On July 3, 1944, Pfc. Harvey J. Dunbar was killed in action by enemy artillery fire in the battle for Normandy. During his time in service, Pfc. Dunbar and a buddy of his composed a poem titled: “We’ve Done our Hitch in Hell” which sums up some of his feelings of being in the service. 

Poem composed by Pvt. Dunbar and a buddy.

I’m sitting here and thinking of the things I left behind

And I have to put on paper what is running through my mind:

We’ve dug a million ditches and cleaned ten miles of ground:

A meaner place this side of hell is waiting to be found.

But there’s some small consolation, gather closely while I tell

When we die we’ll go to heaven

For we have done our hitch in hell


We’ve built a hundred kitchens for the cooks to stew our beans.

We’ve stood a million guard mounts and we’ve never acted mean

We’ve washed a million mess kits and peeled a million spuds;

We’ve rolled a million blanket rolls and washed the captains duds;

The number of parades we’ve stood is very hard to tell,

But we’ll not parade in Heaven

For we’ve done our hitch in hell


We’ve killed a million rats and bugs

That crawled out of our eats

We’ve pulled a million centipedes from out our dirty sheets

We’ve marched a million miles and made a million camps

The grub we’ve had to eat at times has given us the cramps

But when our work on earth is done, our friends behind will tell

That we surely went to heaven, for we’ve done our hitch in hell


When the final Hun is surrounded and we’ve laid aside life’s cares;

We’ll do our best to parade upon those shining Golden Stairs,

The angels all will welcome us and harps will start to play,

We’ll draw a million canteen checks and spend them all in a day

The Great Commanding General will smile on us and tell,

Take a front seat Soldier,

You’ve done your hitch in hell

Our museum is proud to have and display the Pfc. Harvey J. Dunbar “Killed in Action” military collection. It is a fitting tribute to a brave young man who made the ultimate sacrifice in defending this great country.