June has always been a special month in my family. Both my father and grandfather celebrated their birthdays in June, 19 and 20 respectively. Frequently, one of their birthdays would land on Father’s Day. The challenge in our family was coming up with presents for both birthdays and Father’s Day! The weekend closest to their birthdays was always a time for celebration.

President Calvin Coolidge declared Father’s Day a national holiday in 1924, but it wasn’t until 1966 when President Lyndon B. Johnson issued a presidential proclamation designating the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. The idea for Father’s Day began in 1908 in Grafton, West Virginia, by Grace Golden Clayton following the loss of her own father in the Monongah Mining Disaster in 1907. Since 1908 different celebrations of fathers have occurred in various locations.

Americans were initially resistant to the idea of the day to honor fathers since it seemed like a holiday supported by retailers who would benefit from the day. Regardless of how the day has been viewed over the years, it is a great time to honor those men in our lives who have made an impact on us. Many of these great men in our lives were our fathers and grandfathers. Here are a few remembrances of the men in the lives of the patrons at our family history center.

Robert N. Westover writes about his father, Richard Nelson Westover:

“Uncle Sam” was an ever-present factor in the life of my father, Richard Nelson Westover, immediately following his return home to San Diego, California in November 1941 from an LDS mission in Hawaii. He was classified 1-A, and Uncle Sam wanted him right now. On 1 January 1942 Dick married the beautiful young sister missionary he had met in the Mission Home in Salt Lake City; on 5 January 1942, he reported for active duty.

After graduating from Office Training School, the new 2nd Lieutenant was sent back to California for special “coastal duties.” It wasn’t until much later that the family learned that Dick was in Alaska, participating in a part of WW II that most Americans today have never heard of, the “Aleutian Conflict.” Japanese forces had taken over two of the Aleutian Islands, Attu and Kiska, possibly as a diversionary tactic while the main Japanese forces were attacking Midway Atoll. American forces were eventually sent to reclaim the islands. After a two-week battle, Attu was reclaimed. Under the cover of foggy weather the Japanese abandoned Kiska. This “coastal duty” was very different from the beaches of San Diego and Hawaii that Lt. Westover was accustomed to.

After his return to the lower 48, Dick was transferred into the Engineering Corps in 1944. After completing a construction course, he was assigned to the Engineering Replacement Pool. His next stop would be Europe. He later recounted his travel to his assignment with the Engineering Corps somewhere in the Rhineland of Germany:
March 1945 – traveled by ship (The Queen Elizabeth) to Scotland, by train thru England, by boat from South Hampton to LeHavre, France, hiked 8 miles from the port to the Replacement Camp and from there in box cars to Vervier, Belgium.
April 1945 – travel by train from Belgium into Germany, then by truck to “the front.” There he was asked to lead a company of Infantry whose officers had all been killed before moving on to his real assignment of building bridges with the Engineer Battalion.

1st Lieutenant Richard Westover was honorably discharged from the Corps of Engineers and returned to his wife and two little boys in October 1945. Although he learned much from it, the war was a period of his life that he never really liked to talk about.

Here is the account that President Clint Ensign shared in the Granite Stake Conference, 23 April 2017:

In the summer of 1939, the threat of war hung over Europe. If war came, European missionaries of the Church were to be evacuated through Switzerland, Holland, and the Netherlands.

On September 1, Germany invaded Poland causing massive panic. The military took over trains and buses. Borders became hard to cross, some closed. Food was scarce. Missionaries made their way the best they could, arriving day and night, hungry and weary, at mission homes in the evacuation countries.

The Netherlands Mission President was Franklin J. Murdock, a young man just 36 years old. Upon hearing of Hitler’s invasion of Poland, President Murdock rushed to the Holland America office to secure ship passage for missionaries to America. He knew the Holland America people. But as he neared their office an enormous crowd had gathered at the front door. He wondered, “How am I possibly going to get through?” Then, he records, “’…a voice came to me as clear as if you and I were talking. It said, ‘Telephone.’” He turned and beside him was a pay phone. He called Holland America and got right through to the General Manager. President Murdock was asked to come to the back door where he was let in.

He told the manager the Church was evacuating its missionaries, that he needed 90 spaces on the next boat to America and more spaces later. The manager said: “…you don’t realize what you’re asking. You can see for yourself what was happening outside. All our ships are booked for the next 5 months. And in the crowd outside there are Jews from Germany offering $1000 apiece for standing room on the ship.” The Manager then excused himself to take a call. Realizing the impossibility of the situation, President Murdock prayed like he had never prayed before. Ten minutes later the manager returned and said,

“Mr. Murdock, how did you know we were going to charter a new ship? You can have the first 90 places on it.” Overjoyed, President Murdock then replied, “I don’t have any money to pay you.” The manager told him to sign for the Church and that the $25,000 payment was due when the ship arrived in New York. The S.S. Pennland sailed in mid-September with 90 missionaries.

In October, President Murdock secured passage on Holland America for 100 missionaries including him and his family. This last group sailed on the ship the “Zaandam”. During the first few days of the voyage the ship moved slowly. Men stood on the bow men using binoculars by day and torches by night scanning the ocean for mines. The Zaandam was one of the last ships to make it safely from Europe to America without getting sunk by mines or submarines. President Murdock knew they were safely home when looking through a porthole in New York harbor he saw great neon sign that read, Wrigleys Spearment Gum.

My mother, age 7, was on the Zaandam, and President Murdock is my grandfather. His story is about a man who listened to the Spirit and acted on it.

And Jill Johansen Hixson (Meadowlark Ward, Granite Stake) shares this memory of her father, Willard Johansen:

My dad, Willard Johansen, U.S. Army Major, retired, served over twenty years in the military. He was stationed with the 7th Infantry and fought in the Battle of the Bulge in WW2. His tours of duty took our family to France, New York, Germany, Georgia, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Massachusetts. He also became a Provost Marshall and later worked as an intelligence officer. After he retired from the Army, he earned bachelor and master of education degrees from BYU. He has influenced my life for good in so many ways, and taught me through example how to serve others.

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