Military

I deeply wanted my missionaries to give me a priesthood blessing the night before boot camp.

“To have a more diverse and varied background makes the Military Advisory Committee stronger and better able to serve.”

Jonathan Monteon’s natural pull to God had waned a bit over recent years, but now something inside was tugging him back.

When Jenna Carson dons the uniform of a United State Air Force officer next week, she will not only be following a family military legacy but also making Latter-day Saint history.

“After a few years of hiding, my cover was blown when I, in full uniform, dropped a child off for school and saw another sister from the ward. The surprised look on her face didn’t help ease my anxiety.”

Many people visit cemeteries on Memorial Day, but what other meaningful memories can your family make together?

Two Marine Corps recruits expected the mental and physical transformation of basic training. But spiritual changes also awaited, leading to a temple marriage for one and a baptism for the other.

On December 7, 2016, Elder D. Todd Christofferson paid tribute to those who lost their lives in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

On Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941, Elder Wayne M. Winegar had just listened to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing the words, “All is well.”

Many of our prophets and apostles have served in their respective country's military, including each member of our First Presidency. Here are powerful spiritual lessons these prophets and apostles learned during their military service.

Jennie Taylor remembers the evening of November 2, 2018, so well. It was the first time she had seen many of her college girlfriends in what seemed like forever. Their overnight reunion included plenty of laughs and shared stories about each other’s kids and husbands. Jennie was convinced that her mom was right when she encouraged her to leave her seven children and take an overnight trip with the girls a few hours from their Utah home.

For Howard Wimberly of Greenwood, Florida, being friends with Albert Lane, a 97-year-old WWII veteran, has taught him one thing: It’s never too late in life to come unto Christ.

While training at the Army Operational Emergency Medical School, U.S. Army Special Forces Combat Medic Staff Sergeant Leo Jenkins noted:

In February — and for the first time in more than 40 years — the State of Kuwait gave official recognition to a religious organization. That organization is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"You obeyed orders. You did it precisely. You did it accurately, and if you didn't, then you paid for it."

"You have to let him go."

Latter-day Saints have a rich heritage of patriotism, going all the way back to the twelfth Article of Faith. Many have pledged their lives in military service as a part of that patriotism, and the Saints at War Project has collected the stories, photographs, and artifacts of their experiences. Here are just a few.

“They killed him on a ruck march?” I heard myself say, almost as if I weren’t the one speaking.

“I feel like I am constantly living in an alternate universe.”

While visiting Brigham Young University's ROTC, US Army Brig. Gen. William D. “Hank” Taylor shared how the military helped him become a better Latter-day Saint.

In the Anbar province, Iraq, near the end of March 2019, four Utah National Guard soldiers saw a surreal yet familiar sight: the Salt Lake Temple drove into view on the Al-Taqaddum Air Base. The men were 45 miles from Baghdad and 20 miles from Fallujah, Iraq's city of 200 mosques. In the heart of Iraq near one of Islam's ultra-conservative strongholds, the green trees and glinting angel Moroni of Temple Square was one of the last things any of these men expected to see.

"I hope it lightens their spirits and gives them some joy this Christmas season, because they've got a lot of pain going on right now," said Craig Mitton, president of Ben Lomond Landscape Maintenance, a local franchise of Christmas Decor, that put up the decorations in frigid temperatures on Wednesday.

While carrying out a mission as a B-17 bomber pilot during WWII, Lieutenant Wendell Bradford Terry (Mike to his friends) and his crew flew through thick flak and antiaircraft fire while passing over the French coastline. The left wing of Terry's plane was hit by an antiaircraft shell, causing a large portion of the wing to break off and both of the left engines to stop functioning, sending the plane in a downward spiral. In addition, the wing caught fire and the flames moved toward the aviation fuel tank, which would cause a deadly explosion. It was then Terry rang the alarm bell and screamed into the intercom: “Bail out! Bail out! Bail out!”

The first time I saw the LDS missionaries was through the scope of my sniper rifle—their white shirts strikingly visible against the intense green of the jungle. Who would dare be so visible in the middle of a war?

November 11, 2018, marks the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended the fighting of the First World War, "the war to end all wars." At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the guns fell silent. Still, it would be another seven months before my grandfather, Samuel Thomas Roberts, received his discharge papers and his ticket home.

Veteran’s day is almost here, once again on November 11th, flags will fly and patriotic programs will prompt our remembrance of the service of our veterans. This year, Veteran’s Day coincides with the 100th anniversary of the close of the Great War, World War I. Touted to be the war to end all wars, World War I was one of the most terrible conflicts in history. At least nine million soldiers and nearly as many civilians died from war-related causes. This number does not include those who perished in consequence of the worldwide influenza pandemic near the end of the war.

U.S. Army Maj. Brent Taylor was the mayor of North Ogden, Utah, a father of seven, and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Taylor was killed in Afghanistan on Saturday while serving what was expected to be a one-year deployment.

I was a 29-year-old United States Air Force fighter pilot, hanging from a parachute, slowly descending into hostile territory. I looked below my dangling legs as I watched my doomed F-4 Phantom shudder, shake, and cartwheel its fiery way to the ground. Missing its tail section and a large part of the left wing, it was now totally engulfed in flames. It was hard to imagine I had been sitting in the cockpit, at the very center of the fireball, a few seconds before. Finally, I saw it hit the ground with a huge concussion that I could see but not hear. The fire and smoke reached into the sky several thousand feet. I thought for a few seconds how unlikely it was for a small-town Texas boy to be involved in such a monumental problem as this was turning into.

What's the secret to a long life? According to Latter-day Saint twins who just celebrated their 100th birthdays, it's living the gospel. "The 89th section of the Doctrine and Covenants says keep the commandments, you’ll be forever protected, and that’s what’s happened,” Boyd Henderson said.

I was fresh out of U.S. Air Force pilot training, struggling to find my place as the new guy in my first fighter squadron. All the other squadron members seemed so sure of themselves, full of energy and confidence. I wanted to fit in. I wanted to be part of the gang, a member of the club. I wanted my career to flourish. The last thing I wanted to do was make waves or highlight myself as a troublemaker. But it seemed that I couldn't escape it if I wanted to live my beliefs.

Shortly after arriving in Vietnam as an Air Force pilot, Larry Chesley looked around at the other airmen in his unit, his eyes stopping on a young man. “And the Spirit said, ‘He’s not coming home.’ And I dismissed it and I looked around the room and my eyes stopped on another man, and the Spirit said, ‘He’s not coming home.’

In the ranks of today’s Latter-day Saints, there are thousands who serve in the armed forces. Here are 10 ways we, as an LDS community, can best support troops and their families.

Whether on the home front or the front lines, many LDS military families are making great sacrifices on behalf of their country. As husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, and sons and daughters are asked to serve abroad, family members are left behind to carry on at home. Here is a look at some of their personal experiences, as compiled in the book Faith in the Service.

After a rare disease derailed Talan Summers's plans to join the military and turned his life into a constant battle, the military decided to surprise Summers with a gift to lift his spirits.

On January 4, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs featured President Thomas S. Monson as the Veteran of the Day. Along with this honor, the department shared this touching tribute:

The following video is from Hi Five Live.

In a video posted to YouTube, LDS 14-year-old Easton Shane shares a touching tribute to his military father and all soldiers and their families. Watch as Easton sings about his experience as a young boy when his father left for war, and how his own understanding of duty and love grew during that time.

Kyle Fox, a member of the LDS Church, helped make 15-year-old Justin Rozier's dream come true when he helped find a car that belonged to Justin's father, a fallen U.S. soldier.

Every day the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs chooses one veteran to highlight and feature on their Facebook page, telling their story of service. On October 3, they honored Elder Robert D. Hales.

As the only active Mormon at the United States Coast Guard Academy, Becca Cotton celebrated her religion at her graduation.

“After exhaustive search, it has been found impossible to locate your son,” the Larsen family received in a telegram. "He has officially been declared to have lost his life." Despite the finality of those words, the family continued to look for the body of their son—a search which has now come to an end 75 years later.

Many prophets and apostles have served their respective countries in the military, including President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, who served six years as a fighter pilot in the German Air Force.

We are so grateful for heroes like Capt. Mervyn Sharp Bennion who have served our country selflessly.

As we honor the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, we remember those who passed away as well as those who survived, many of whom found refuge in an LDS tabernacle.

"I picked up a stretcher and went around the beach picking up dead GIs. A bulldozer would dig a big hole, and we’d lay the bodies in there. The corpsman would take one dog tag and put it on his ring and leave the other tag on the body," Brother Darel Johnson recalls with tears in his eyes. “At night we slept on our bloody hammocks.”