Military missionaries: Mormon soldiers spread the gospel in post-war Japan

SALT LAKE CITY — They wore dog tags, not name tags, and instead of white shirts and ties, they were recognizable by Army fatigues and dusty boots. As occupation troops in Japan after World War II, soldiers were tasked with evaluating the damage, beginning the rebuilding process and organizing the transport of soldiers going back home.

Yet, for LDS Army servicemen like C. Elliott Richards and now President Boyd K. Packer, their military experience became more like LDS missions as they dedicated themselves to teaching and testifying to former enemies about the love of Jesus Christ.

"If there is true love and understanding of our Heavenly Father's plan, then it doesn't matter what color people's skin is," said Richards, who since his Army days has served as an LDS mission president of the Philippines Cebu Mission, an LDS temple president of the Jordan River Utah Temple with his wife Margaret as matron, and still meets weekly around Salt Lake City for lunch with fellow LDS soldiers who served in Tokyo. "The souls of (Japanese) people are just as rich and inviting and needing as anyone else's."

During the war, Richards, a second lieutenant, trained troops in Oklahoma, Texas and Georgia, and was sent to Japan only after the war's end, for which he was grateful. Upon arriving at the 11th Replacement Depot, around 17 miles north of Narumi, (now called Midori-ku Nagoya-shi) the Salt-Lake-City boy found a group of LDS servicemen, including Ray Hanks, Mel Arnold and Reed Davis.

The men excitedly told him of an English-speaking Japanese man they'd met in a silk shop, then later in a tea shop.

When the three politely refused a warm drink of tea on the cold night stating they were Mormons, the Japanese man was intrigued, and invited them to his home to teach him more about their religion.

Richards immediately joined the LDS soldiers in their frequent gospel discussions with the Japanese man, Tatsui Sato, and his wife, Chiyo, and their 6-year-old son Yasuo. A 3-year-old daughter, Atsuko, had died during the war.

"And thus began for me, one of the most memorable experiences of my life," Richards said, quoting from his personal history. "I shall never forget my first night in their humble home, sitting on the floor with my feet under a quilt, absorbing heat from the single charcoal pot in the center of the room. It was cold and snowy outside, but inside we were all burning with the Spirit of the Lord."