Mormon history

The Briefest Message: Hawaii, 8 December 1941

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Roscoe C. Cox of Sanpete County, Utah, served a mission in Hawaii as a young man in the early 1920s. He was called there again as mission president in 1939. He was still serving as president on December 7, 1941.

President Cox spent most of Sunday, December 7, getting in touch with his missionaries and the members in and around Honolulu after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. All were eventually accounted for.

He knew that parents and friends of the missionaries would be praying for their safety and hoping to hear word at the earliest possible moment – but in the early hours of the war all lines of communication between Hawaii and the mainland were in use by the military.

President Cox was able to place a cablegram on the afternoon of Monday, December 8. It it had to be brief and it had to go where it would be disseminated as quickly and widely as possible to reassure families of the elders and sisters in his care.

Communications were still so backed up that his cablegram wasn’t received in Salt Lake until the morning of Tuesday, December 9. Details would have to wait until letters could be sent, but the crucial message came through.

Kealakekua Hawaii 13
8/239P [date and time of sending]

1941 Dec 9 AM 7 19 [date and time of receipt]

Heber Grant
47 East South Temple St
Salt Lake City Utah

All Well

Roscoe C Cox

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MLA: Parshall, Ardis E. "The Briefest Message: Hawaii, 8 December 1941." Keepapitchin.org, 07 Dec 2016, https://keepapitchinin.org/2016/12/07/the-briefest-message-hawaii-8-december-1941/.

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6 thoughts on “The Briefest Message: Hawaii, 8 December 1941”

  1. There was of course one prominent member of the church whose day did not end well. Captain Mervyn Bennion, commanding officer of the U.S.S. West Virginia, lost his life in the attack–and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the attack. He had been at the home of Ralph Woolley, president of the Oahu Stake, on the evening of Saturday, December 6, and I suspect that the mission president spoke with Pres. Woolley as he tried to track down information about church members and missionaries. But there’s no way of knowing when word of Capt. Bennion’s death reached members of the church in Hawaii. Capt. Bennion’s wife, Louise Clark Bennion, did not learn of her husband’s passing until Thursday, December 11 (if a Church News story from 25 years ago can be trusted).

  2. This from the Improvement Era of January 1942 (I’ve been meaning to learn more about Joseph D. Pyper — he shouldn’t be overlooked):

    Hawaiian Missionaries Reported Safe

    Captain Mervyn S. Bennion Meets Death in Action

    Following the first Pearl Harbor attack of the war by Japan, Sunday, December 7, 1941, communications from President Roscoe C. Cox of the Hawaiian Mission, President Jay C. Jensen of the Japanese Mission, and President Ralph E. Woolley of Oahu Stake indicated that all was well with the one hundred twenty-one missionaries in the islands, and with the resident members of the Church in Hawaii.

    Against this good news came the shocking word that Captain Mervyn S. Bennion of the United States Navy had lost his life in the service of his country. Annapolis graduate in 1906, he was the son of Israel Bennion and the son-in-law of President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. His long and brilliant naval career was always paralleled by his devotion to the tenets of the Church, and by service in the Church in many official capacities whenever shore duty permitted residence near an organized unit. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Louise Clark Bennion; one son, Mervyn, Jr., his father, Israel Bennion, and the following brothers and sisters : Colonel Howard S. Bennion, Glynn S. Bennion, Kenneth S. Bennion, Angus P. Bennion, Jean Sharp Bennion, Muriel B. Chase, Judith P. Bennion, and Ruth P. Bennion.

    Also lost in Pacific action was Private First Class Joseph D. Pyper, Jr., 21, whose father is a member of the Harvard Ward ( S. L. C. ) bishopric.

  3. Also lost that day–December 8, since it’s on the other side of the International Date Line–was Sgt. Quince A. Hunt, in the Japanese attack on Wake Island. He was the son of Jefferson T. Hunt and grandson of John Hunt, the first bishop of the Snowflake Ward (for 31 years).

  5. A later message from President Cox:

    “Wonderful prayer services were held in the various Wards on January 1. A single spray of flowers – and a beautiful one – was at the Waikiki chapel. It was in memory of Captain Bennion.”

  6. I would bet that Joseph was the son of George D. Pyper, and the grandson of Christiana Pyper (who was a remarkable healer).

    Thanks for the post, Ardis.

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