Fifth in a series.
The 1940s dawned on a world embroiled in bitter, bloody war. When the guns were finally silenced in 1945, a shaky peace settled the dust. Optimism and fear co-existed as the world, now familiar with nuclear weapons, came under the cloud of the Cold War.
Amidst it all, the Church grew at a phenomenal rate. Missions, closed before and during World War II, opened once again, and missionary work in the Pacific and Asia — where LDS servicemen had planted gospel seeds — spread at astounding rates. For instance, in Japan, where missionary work was discontinued in 1924, some 470 servicemen attended a Church conference in 1946; the Japanese Mission was reopened two years later. With this growth came a historical milestone — the first-million-member mark in 1947. Church membership was 803,528 as the 1940s began and was 1,078,671 by the dawn of the 1950s The 1940s had seen an increase of 275,143 Latter-day Saints throughout the world, nearly double the increase of the previous decade.
The growth was especially significant considering the drop in the number of full-time missionaries from 1942 through 1945. During 1941 — before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the war — 1,257 missionaries were set apart. The following year, that figure dropped to 629 and in 1943 to 261, the lowest number of missionaries set apart since 1918. More than 100,000 LDS men served their countries during the war. But with peace, many of these young men marched home to exchange uniforms for missionary name-tags. In 1946, 2,297 missionaries were set apart. As the mid-20th century neared, the Kingdom of God on earth began reaching into the far corners of the globe — from Asia to the Pacific, from Africa to Europe. (Deseret News 1999-2000 Church Almanac, pp. 551-554.)
Thus were the glad tidings of President George Albert Smith in the opening session of the April 1949 general conference in the Salt Lake Tabernacle: "The word comes from the missionary field that the Lord has opened our way in numerous places. It is marvelous what a change there has been in many cases. The magazines and newspapers of the world are going out of their way now to be complimentary to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . The great Choir and Organ [in the Tabernacle] advertise us in the world, and it's a joy to many who are away to listen in to this great Choir."
President Smith added: "Since the close of the war, we have had as many as five thousand missionaries in the world. Many of them have done wonderful work. They have found the hearts of people softened and ready to hear the message."
It was a world softened by six long years of war, with its companions — heartache, despair, misery. Records, correspondence and newspaper articles of members of the Church living in battle zones and occupied territories recount poignant stories of faith, perseverance and even hope.
But back in the spring of 1940, the Church in Europe rested entirely in the hands of local leadership, as full-time missionaries had been evacuated by the end of 1939. A Jan. 22, 1999, letter from Jan Weening of Groningen, The Netherlands, to the Church News described how at the end of 1939, three men — J. Schipaanboord, A.D. Jongkees and P. Vlam — were set apart by Elder Joseph Fielding Smith of the Quorum of the Twelve as the acting mission presidency. Brother Weening wrote: "What they had learned from World War I [The Netherlands was neutral] and what Elder Widtsoe had in mind at the end of the Twenties — the importance of local leadership — became now a necessity."
As a result, local members in Europe became more unified and numbers even grew. In late 1940 and early 1941, Elder Thomas E. McKay, who was presiding over the European Mission from Salt Lake City and who, in April 1941, was called as an Assistant to the Twelve, received reports from members in England, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Czecho-Slovakia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Syria. These letters tell "of valiant work being done in the interest of the Gospel" despite the hardships of war, according to the Jan. 18, 1941, Church Section of the Deseret News .
For example, Elder Herbert Klopfer, a Berliner acting as president of the East German Mission, reported to Elder McKay: "There has been some increase in membership, with 55 baptisms in eight months. Sunday Schools are well attended. Wives and mothers have assisted in helping wounded and bereaved as well as doing work for the Red Cross. Tithing has increased 15 percent and fast offerings have gained. General donations have doubled."
Still, the turmoil of the times is apparent in a poignant letter sent to Harold H. Jenson of Salt Lake City from a friend in Birmingham, England, according to the Feb. 8, 1941, Church Section: "I feel the effect of the war is to change the social conditions in England and to draw us nearer to God through trial and suffering...."
This suffering was not limited to one hemisphere. Asia and the Pacific, too, were embroiled. By the end of 1940, it was apparent to Church leaders that missionary work in afflicted or threatened areas in these regions could not continue. President David O. McKay, then second counselor in the First Presidency, whose responsibilities included administration of the Church's missionary program, personally welcomed home missionaries from New Zealand, Australia, Tonga and Samoa when they arrived in San Francisco, Calif., in November 1940, and, in December, he welcomed home missionaries from South Africa. Some of these young people were reassigned; some were released. (David O. McKay, Apostle to the World, Prophet of God, by Francis M. Gibbons, pp. 177, 185.)
A year later, the United States had entered the war. It seemed everyone knew someone fighting — or dying — including the first counselor in the First Presidency. President J. Reuben Clark Jr.'s son-in-law, Capt. Mervyn S. Bennion was in command of the battleship West Virginia, anchored at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He was mortally wounded in the attack. According to the Dec. 7, 1991, Church News, he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Of Capt. Bennion, the June 20, 1942, New York Sun said: "When the annals of the war in the Pacific come to be written the story of Captain Bennion will take its place among those of other heroes whom the people of America will always be proud to remember."
Although inland portions of the United States seemed protected from the war's direct effects, serious precautions were still taken, including at Church headquarters. From April 1942 through the end of the war, general conference was closed to the general public. The First Presidency also closed the Salt Lake Tabernacle and held conference sessions in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square and in the assembly room in the Salt Lake Temple. (Deseret News 1995-96 Church Almanac, p. 381.)
But the Church carried on. For civilians, "Home Sunday Schools" were encouraged in areas where travel restrictions kept members from meeting together. In battle areas, Church leaders made concerted efforts to reach out to LDS servicemen stationed throughout the world. Elder Harold B. Lee, then of the Quorum of the Twelve, chaired the LDS Servicemen's Committee, organized in October 1942. (Deseret News 1999-2000 Church Almanac, pp. 136-137.)
Servicemen's group were organized in military camps and bases throughout the world, and LDS chaplains serving in the armed forces oversaw smaller such groups. Among many accounts, men in the Pacific wrote of using 20 mm shell casings for sacrament cups and a 40 mm shell casing for a water pitcher. (Church News, Aug. 19, 1995.)
From members of the Church came riveting tales of courage. One such tale is that of Maxine Grimm, now 85 and a member of the Skyline Ward, Tooele Utah Stake. In her early 20s, she joined the Red Cross and was assigned as a recreational director in the Hospital Service. "I felt I could do more in the hospitals than in any other way," she said during a recent Church News interview. Throughout the war, the young woman, then known as Maxine Tate, served in such areas as New Guinea, the Philippines and in Japan. She organized games for wounded soldiers and performed on her pump organ, "anything to take their minds off their problems. Many of them had no arms or legs. We made gifts for their families or friends."
She also shared the gospel wherever she could. In New Guinea, because of her role as recreational director, she was allowed to leave the hospital, under guard of an Army lieutenant, to procure supplies. Because of this, "I was able to contact LDS members in different places. We started the Church there. We held regular services."
She did much the same in the Philippines, including helping organize Church conferences as the war neared an end.
Another Church member who vividly recalls the war is Dale P. Randall, now 79 and a member of the Centerville 7th Ward, Centerville Utah Stake. From 1944 to 1945, Brother Randall was a B-17 bomber pilot with the 8th Air Force in England. Waiting for him back home in Utah was his wife, Maxine, and a son he had never seen. They had been married in July 1942 in the Salt Lake Temple, and Brother Randall had previously served in the Central States Mission.
"We had one [air raid] we went on," Brother Randall recalled. "We were shot up pretty bad. Our lead ship got shot up over the target. The lead ship just kept going down. We ended up over the target at 16,000 feet. When they shot the next burst of flak, we went through that, but we got back (to England)."
Out of his 12-plane squadron, three planes returned.
He cites his mission experiences, his testimony and letters from his wife for the peace he felt in coping with the stress of daily air combat. "Her faith was so positive. I knew she was praying for me."
Finally, the war in Europe ended in May 1945, and in September, the war in the Pacific was over. But misery and suffering continued. Reports from Church leaders in Europe sought immediate aid. The Church welfare program was put into action. By October, "hundreds of cartons" at the Salt Lake Regional Bishops' Storehouse were being filled with clothing and food for the suffering Saints of Europe. In November, President George Albert Smith and a delegation of Brethren met with U.S. President Harry S Truman about how best to proceed in arranging for distribution of supplies. President Truman asked how long it would take for the Church to gather supplies.
"We have already collected clothing and food and are ready at once to begin shipping supplies," President Smith responded, to the utter surprise of President Truman. (A Labor of Love: The 1946 European Mission of Ezra Taft Benson, pp 4-5.)
Elder Ezra Taft Benson, then of the Quorum of the Twelve and later president of the Church, was called to preside over the European Mission and was assigned to travel throughout Europe to see to the temporal and spiritual needs of the Saints. He left in January 1946 and spent the next 10 months distributing food, clothing, bedding and other supplies to the suffering people there. For the women, he also carried soap, needles, pins and thread. He passed out gum and candy to children. (Church News, Aug. 19, 1995.)
In his farewell message to the Saints and friends in Europe, Elder Benson wrote: "Amidst all the terrible aftermath of war, the contact with the Saints in all the war-torn countries has been a sad, though inspiring, experience. ...Here we have found faith, loyalty, and devotion unsurpassed in the annals of Church history." (A Labor of Love, p. 241.)
An inspiring account of charity and forgiveness involved the welfare program of the Dutch Mission. In spring 1947, after they had received help from Church headquarters, the Dutch members began to plant potatoes in hopes of helping others who were suffering. While the potatoes were growing, the Dutch Saints learned of the suffering of the German members. Forgetting the term enemy, they shipped 75 tons of potatoes to the members in the West German Mission in November 1947. They later sent more potatoes and nine tons of herring. (Pure Religion: The Story of Church Welfare Since 1930, pp. 256-260.)
A joyous part of the first year or so after the war was the resumption of missionary work. As part of his European Mission, Elder Benson reorganized the missions of Europe and helped Church leaders prepare for the return of full-time missionaries. In fact, newly called presidents of 36 missions in the world later reported to Church headquarters a desperate need for more missionaries and meetinghouses. Elsewhere, the international influence of the gospel was spread with LDS servicemen's conferences being held in Asia, the Pacific, Africa and Europe. Such conferences were held in the Mariana Islands, on Okinawa, in London and Paris, in India and in the Philippines.
As a result, by May 1946, missionaries were being called at a rate of 150 to 200 per month. They were being sent to such places as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, France, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Tahiti, Samoa, Hawaii and the Central Pacific (including the Japanese Mission). Many of these missionaries were ex-servicemen who were proving of value "because of their experience, their faith and their ability to immediately get into the program to proclaim the gospel to those anxious to hear the truth." (Aug. 19, 1995, Church News.)
As the 1940s began to wind down, the Church continued to move forward — something it had done throughout the decade. During these years, the media began playing a large part in spreading the word. For example, in 1940, the film Brigham Young was produced by Twentieth Century Fox, reversing decades of negative stereotypes and depicting Mormons as industrious pioneers seeking religious freedom. (Encyclopedia of Mormonism 2:948.)
The last general conference of the decade in October 1949, saw the first television broadcast of conference sessions. (Church News, Oct. 9, 1949.) It was a monumental occasion.
There were other joyous occasions. The Idaho Falls Temple was dedicated Sept. 23, 1945, by President George Albert Smith. The Relief Society organization commemorated its centennial in 1942, and the centennial of the Mormon Pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 was celebrated. As part of the celebration on July 24, 1947, "This is the Place Monument" — overlooking the valley — was dedicated. (Deseret News 1999-2000 Church Almanac, pp. 137-138.)
At the twilight of the 1940s, and as the 1950s dawned, the Church's international presence only continued to expand.
