Conference Address

I am filled with appreciation this morning to be with you again in this wonderful Conference session. In my heart there is a prayer of gratitude to my Father in heaven ; first, for the privilege of membership in this wonderful Church ; next, a prayer for our homes here in this wonderful land, a land that our Father in heaven Himself has told us is choice above all others ; and third, there is in my heart a prayer for those thirty thousand members of the Church in Europe who, at this time, without the missionaries and in their greatest trials, — need our faith and prayers. I feel grateful for the privilege of laboring among those fine German Saints whom we all learned to love. It was also a privilege to be able to associate with those noble missionaries in the West German Mission. I am sure that these Elders will never forget their many experiences in that country, and also in getting out of it. When times are hard you find that you are not very strong yourself and you learn to rely almost entirely upon the Lord to guide you. ¶

If the German Missions had to be closed, if the world had to be the scene of so much trouble and care, I feel that it was indeed a privilege to be chosen to be there at that time, and to try to lighten the burdens of the Saints. Because the time is short I shall confine my talk to relating a few missionary experiences during the evacuation of the country prior to the Polish war. ¶

On Friday, the 25th of August, my wife and I were traveling in the company of Elder Joseph Fielding Smith and Sister Smith in Northern Germany, after coming into the country from Denmark. Friday morning we received a telegram from the First Presidency, which was relayed from our office in Frankfurt to Hanover, telling us that we should immediately evacuate Germany. We were told to take our missionaries and go either to Holland or to Denmark. We were then six hours from our Mission headquarters. ¶

I said to Brother Smith : "My wife and I should be in Frankfurt. There are so many things to do. Things are beginning to happen so fast, you see here in Hanover the women are already driving the street cars, and I have never seen so much real excitement. I am afraid we must work fast, and we should be in Frankfurt." ¶

*See remarks by President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., page 82. ¶

I went to the hotel clerk and told him to get me reservations on the plane to fly to Frankfurt. He looked at me and said : "Those reservations, I am sure, have been gone for some time. Frankfurt is on the main European line and all reservations on that line are reserved two weeks ahead. Now with this Polish trouble I am sure that you could not buy a ticket for any consideration." ¶

I said : "Call them up anyway. Call the airport. We must have two reservations." ¶

He scratched his head after he called and said, "There are two left." ¶

I said : "That is all that we need, and thank you so much." ¶

In an hour and twenty minutes we were in Frankfurt. We flew with the last airplane over that line of passenger service. The plane was taken off at Frankfurt and sent to the Polish front. As we flew over that beautiful country we could not help but admire the beauty of the scenery of the country below and we reflected what a wonderful thing the plane was when it carried people so rapidly, and what a shame to destroy property and life with it. At home we immediately sent telegrams to all our Elders telling them to pack their trunks and take them with them that night into Holland. We had called the Dutch consul for permission to enter Holland again and had received it. We decided on Holland as it was closer to most of our missionaries. We had 85 missionaries scattered from the Danish border on the north to Vienna on the south, which is quite a big territory. Things were getting exciting. The German people couldn't say much, but the feeling of unrest and impending trouble was everywhere present. ¶

We had never imagined the excitement would be like it was. There was none of it present the previous year when we went out of the country. Everything was tightening up all over. We had always felt that it would not be such a job to evacuate the country, especially after the "fire drill" of a year ago. We figured that we could always use the public utilities, but everybody else figured the same thing at this time. It took a little time to get the telegrams off to our Elders. We had also informed them to telegraph the office, or telephone, as they left, so that we could check on all of them. ¶

Friday afternoon and evening we sat in the office receiving no telegrams or telephone calls at all. We wondered if the missionaries had received our messages. We tried to telephone to a few of them in order to check up on the telegrams, but were unable to get anyone on the telephone. Everyone else had the same idea, and the telephone wires were clogged. We tried to send more telegrams and were told that temporarily all the chances for sending telegrams anywhere were closed. ¶

Early that morning, (Saturday), one of the Elders called us by telephone from the Dutch border. He said : "President Wood, we have been here on the Dutch border for six hours and the Dutch will not let us in. We haven't a dime between us. What shall we do ?" A person cannot leave Germany with any money because there is controlled currency there. The Dutch had given us permission to enter, but things had happened so fast that the consul in Frankfurt did not know of the new arrangements until we told him. The Dutch remembered the last war and the lack of food in their country, and they were determined to have no foreigners there at all. ¶

I said, "Brother, if you will have faith, I will see that we get some money to you immediately." ¶

We telegraphed money to those Elders, and within five minutes after we had done so the operator called us and said : "We will not be able to take any more money by telegraph; however, I think I can get this last through." ¶

About that time a radio announcement was made by the government, that after Sunday night at midnight, August 27th, the German government would not guarantee anyone his destination on the German railways. I shall never forget our feelings at that time. We had no telegraph nor telephone facilities, and railways were not available to us. We were not able to contact our missionaries, and we knew that most of them would be heading toward Holland. We knew they would arrive there without enough money to buy tickets to Denmark, and we knew that time was against us, with the railroads all being used for troop transportation. If ever we knew that we could do nothing of ourselves we were sure of it then. One of the girls took out our Mission history and read how the missionaries during the last war got out of the country. One of the Elders was not able to get out during the war and a few of our missionaries had to crawl on their hands and knees and make their way out behind the Russian lines. We knew these things and we knew the intense feeling of the parents at home. We knew that each one of you was relying upon us to see that your son was safe. Conditions were so unsettled there. We had seen the treatment of the Jews and we felt that we must do all in our power to see that those missionaries were safe. We also knew that we would be helped. Every mother and father in America was praying for their missionary sons, and we knew that the Lord would help us if we did all we could. ¶

About that time a big football player came into our office, a fine Idaho boy, who weighed over 200 pounds. ¶

I said : "Brother, did you ever carry a message to Garcia?" ¶

He said : "No, I didn't, but I'm willing to try." ¶

I said: "Elder, we have 31 missionaries lost somewhere between here and the Dutch border. It will be your mission to find them and see that they get out." ¶

He set out for the Dutch border with 500 marks and tickets for Denmark and for London. We had heard that a few might be able to get into Holland if they had tickets for London. That was soon changed. After four hours on the train he arrived at Cologne, which is about half way to the Dutch border. We had told him to follow his impressions entirely as we had no idea what towns these 31 Elders would be in. Cologne was not his destination, but he felt impressed to get off the train there. It is a very large station, and was then filled with thousands of people. The call to arms had been given that day, and there were thousands of people going to the Polish border. There were many, many students returning to England, and many people returning from vacations before the train service stopped. There were so many people in the station that to find anyone there would have been next to impossible. This Elder stepped into this station and whistled our missionary whistle — "Do What is Right, Let the Consequence Follow." ¶

Down in one corner of that station was an Elder with an old couple who were also on a mission from America. They heard that call, and made their way safely to the train and were able to get into Holland with tickets for London. These three were stranded there. They couldn't call the office, as no more calls on telephones were accepted, and they had had nothing to eat all day. ¶

At another border station going into Holland this Elder arrived, after picking up missionaries along the way. As he rode along on the train he felt impressed at other stations to get out and whistle our call. At some stations he felt no impression at all, so he did not get out. At the border he found eight missionaries who had been locked in the station house all night. They were indeed glad to see the missionary from the office with tickets for Denmark, and money. A border officer stepped up and asked him how much money he had. He told him 500 marks. ¶

He said to the Elder: "Give me that money." ¶

The missionary answered : "I will over my dead body. I was sent here to relieve these missionaries, and I will not give up the money." Just at that time a man in the other corner of the station was arrested for being a spy. Now a spy on a border is really something important at war-time, and he attracted everybody's attention. The moment the officer turned, the Elders stooped down and made their way out of the station and out to the train. By this time the trains had stopped running regularly. These missionaries got on to unscheduled trains, traveled for fifteen or twenty minutes, and then they would get out at the next station. There they would stand until they felt impressed to get on another train. They had to transfer seventeen times on a route that regularly requires no more than two or three transfers before reaching Denmark. ¶

At another station three of our Elders were walking along the street. They were fortunate enough not to be locked up. A man came up to them and stated that he had seen them before, saying that he knew that they were Mormon missionaries. He said that he had been called to the Polish front and had 50 marks which he knew he ¶

would not need and asked if they could use this money. They were without a penny, so they took it. This amount paid their way back to the little town where they had come from the day before. ¶

One of the Elders had received his allowance from home the day before. All the other Elders had used their surplus money to buy photographic equipment which could be taken out of the country. This young man went to town but felt so bad about everything he just couldn't spend that money, so he put it into a drawer and said for his landlady to give it to the poor Saints if he did not come back. He did come back, however. The train had a ten-minute wait, and he ran up to the dwelling, got that money, and it was just enough, within a few pennies for food, to pay their way to Copenhagen, Denmark. ¶

We arrived in Denmark early Monday morning with 21 missionaries in our group. That morning we received a telegram from President Murdock saying 14 of our group had arrived in The Hague. We now had only 17 to worry about. About two o'clock that afternoon we received a telegram from the football player saying seventeen of them were arriving that night at 7 :30. ¶

My dear brothers and sisters, these things I have told you today are true stories of our experiences in getting out of the country. They are testimonies that I am sure will remain with these missionaries all their lives. Almost every one of our Elders could tell you a real faith-stirring story about his leaving Germany. We all arrived in Denmark with our hearts filled with gratitude and humility. One of our Elders was asked if he was a bit anxious about going home on a freighter and being led out of Denmark by a German pilot through the mines. ¶

He said: "That is child's play after the things we have been through in getting out of Germany. I don't think after all the trouble the Lord went to there that He is going to let us down in the middle of the ocean." ¶

I am grateful for this opportunity to bear you my testimony. I know that this is the true Church of God, that Jesus is the Christ, and that today Heber J. Grant is a prophet of our Father in heaven. I am happy to have had this opportunity of working in Germany among the German people. I am happy to have had the privilege of being there during those hard times. The Lord stood at our side and never once did we want or were we unable to meet the situations at hand with His help. ¶

We were called to go to Sweden and assist in closing the Mission there. I shall never forget the sights there. We have preached the Gospel in Europe for over 100 years, and this is the first time that all the missionaries have left. We thought that after our experiences in Germany we did not have any more tears left, our hearts were so sorrowful that we thought there was no more room for grief. One does not have to understand a language to understand those things. Those poor Swedish Saints! About 150 of them gathered at the station to say "goodbye" to their missionaries. The wonderful trained chorus developed under the direction of Brother and Sister Larsen sang to the Saints there. They placed garlands of flowers on each missionary's neck and as the train pulled out, the Saints sang back to them, "God be with You Till we Meet Again." I just cannot tell you how we all felt. ¶

Those Saints will carry on in Europe. I ask you to please remember them in your prayers at this time. Without missionaries and in their time of greatest trouble, they need our faith and love. May we be generous in our judgments and tolerant toward all God's children, here in safety, in luxury, in our homes in the Land of the Free, is my humble prayer, and I ask it in Jesus' name, Amen. ¶