70 years ago today - Dec 12, 1941

[President Heber J. Grant Diary] Deictated (sic) my journal from November 23rd to date at 10:50. Really I had made practically no notes during all this time. My health has been such that I have neglected to do so. What little time I have had I had read quite a bit and I have been dumbfounded at the neglect at Pearl Harbor and the loss of a couple of battle ships and the death of Brother Clark's son-in-law, Mervyn S. Bennion, who was commander of the West Virginia. It looks like we were absolutely asleep when the Japanese struck. Two of the great British battleships have also been sunk by the Japanese. It looks like the United States and Great Britain ought to take lessons from the Japanese on how to strike. I never felt more shocked in my life than to think that Brother Clark's son-in-law was killed. He leaves only one child-a son-and his brother has no children. They were at the head of their classes and made marvelous records. It seems too bad that one of them has no childr
en and the other has only one.

[Source: Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]