Tag Archives: France

Mormon history

On the Eve of War, 1940

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Elder Thomas E. McKay, formerly president of the Swiss-German Mission, was appointed to serve as president of the European Mission, with headquarters at Salt Lake City, during World War II, keeping in touch with our members in Europe and providing for their welfare as best he could at such a distance and under wartime conditions.

On April 5, 1940, he reported in General Conference on the state of the Church he had left when he and the last of the elders from the U.S. had had to leave Europe.

… People that I met on my first mission, forty years ago, have sons now in the mission field, or they have been. Babies that I blessed on that first mission are now leaders, one of them presiding over the West German Mission. Many of the parents, who were Sunday School children at that time, have had sons in the mission field. Continue reading On the Eve of War, 1940 →

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Chaplain B.H. Roberts Eulogizes the Dead

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This post is a sort of prequel to previous posts about B.H. Roberts’s experiences as an LDS chaplain during World War I, here and here. It’s long; you can safely skip lightly through the multiple eulogies – I include them all here for the sake of history and to emphasize what must have seemed to be an endless experience to the men involved.

It was 90 years ago that the men of the 145 Field Artillery began to settle into their training routine at Camp De Souge, France (near Bordeaux). So far, the men seemed to be enjoying their experience in a new land, far from the battlefront. Sgt. William H. Latimer, a Latter-day Saint, wrote to his parents: Continue reading Chaplain B.H. Roberts Eulogizes the Dead →

Mormon history

Chaplain B.H. Roberts Leads Memorial Services

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This newspaper article is posted as a followup to the post Chaplain B.H. Roberts Pleads for the Lives of His Men from a reference suggested by Justin. No, I don’t know whether the voice recording or the 1918 movie film is extant; I will be looking for them, and solicit your help in the search by Googling and checking databases with which you may be familiar.

MEMORIAL DAY RECALLS UTAH SERVICE IN FRANCE

Funeral Address by B.H. Roberts at Camp Recorded

Continue reading Chaplain B.H. Roberts Leads Memorial Services →

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Chaplain B.H. Roberts Pleads for the Lives of His Men

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Lenard Valess Dewey (1895-1981) was born in Idaho and eventually settled in Arizona, where he served as an LDS bishop. In between those milestones, he lived in California, earned an M.A. from the University of South Dakota (1924; his Master’s essay was a consideration of Tennyson’s “In Memoriam”), and wrote at least two dozen articles for LDS publications. In 1917 he enlisted in the 145th Field Artillery, a Utah unit made up largely of Mormon men, which trained in California as part of the 40th Division (composed generally of non-Mormon men from California and Nevada), sailed to Bordeaux, France for further training. The war ended just as the 145th was heading to the front; except for a large contingent of their men that were transferred to another unit before they left the States, the men of the 145th saw no battle. Continue reading Chaplain B.H. Roberts Pleads for the Lives of His Men →

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Jens Leslie Stevenson: Called to Serve

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Jens Leslie Stevenson’s life had a touch of the international: Born in Utah in 1890 to an English father and a Danish mother, he accompanied his family on their move to Alberta when he was about 12.

Whatever his ethnic or national heritage, Jens was thoroughly Mormon. Called as a missionary in 1917, he reported to the Eastern States Mission on February 1 and was assigned to work in western Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh was then a center of anti-Mormon sentiment, and on two occasions Jens was jailed briefly for preaching the gospel. That didn’t discourage him, according to elders who knew him. Nor was he intimidated by the frequent calls to “Work or Fight!” – the slogan that seemed to be on everyone’s lips as the United States geared up to join World War I.
Continue reading Jens Leslie Stevenson: Called to Serve →