It is an honor to greet you, my brethren. We have loved the work among the servicemen all through the years and assure you of the great interest the Church has in you. We wish you to know that we love you, and we honor and respect you in your position. We hope that you will be true representatives of the Church while you are in the military service. You do represent the Church, if for no other reason than that you are members of the Church. For wherever our members go, they portray the Church for good or for ill to all who observe their actions.

The Lord expects every one of us always to uphold our Latter-day Saint ideals no matter where we are, whether in business, in sports, in military service, or in school. No matter how we may be engaged, we are Latter-day Saints. We never can escape that. Because of this, we are interested in each other and are truly our brothers' keepers.

We who represent the General Authorities of the Church honor you, respect you, and pray for you. It is our sincere hope that we also may strengthen you. No matter where you go, please remember that the Church will be right there with you, if only you will do your part. You carry the Church along with you as do your buddies, if they are members. You will find chaplains or group leaders no matter where you go. Organized groups of the Church are nearly everywhere. We hope that with each one of your transfers, you will have as your very first inquiry, "Where is the Church?" Any chaplain, whether Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish, will tell you where the Mormon boys are meeting and whether or not there is a Mormon chaplain on the base. The Church is there if you will look for it and ask about it.

Please know, too, that the Church is praying for you constantly. In our council meetings in the temple every Thursday, earnest prayers are offered in your behalf by the General Authorities who are assembled there, and I assure you that their prayers are heard in heaven.

I would like to tell you just a little about the relationships of the Church to our government—why we, as Americans, and why we, as Church members, are willing to fight for America and why it is a part of our religion to be good Americans and good citizens. Some of our brethren have repeatedly said that we cannot be good Latter-day Saints and bad citizens at the same time. We believe in honoring, upholding, and sustaining the law. That is part of our religion. And we believe, therefore, that we should defend the law. We should defend the country and we should defend our flag.

I would like to go a long way back into history and give you a brief sketch of America and God's interest in it. You will see then that God's interest in America is therefore the Church's interest. The Church is God's organization; it is His kingdom here on earth. I hope you have all read the Book of Mormon. If you have not, I hope you will begin to read it immediately.

As part of your going into the service, you have been given a pocket-sized edition of the Book of Mormon. When you read 1 Nephi, you will learn about the marvelous vision given to that prophet. Nephi was a man who was taught by the Lord. He was given a view of what was to happen on the earth in the latter days. As you read in the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth chapters of that book, you learn what he saw pertaining to our times. In vision, he saw the discovery of America, Christopher Columbus crossing the ocean and coming to this land which was inhabited by the offspring of Nephi's brothers, the Lamanites. He also saw the manner in which America was colonized. And then he was shown that the colonists who had settled America were attacked by the mother country—England. In other words, he saw the Revolutionary War. In this vision, Nephi could see that the wrath of God was upon all those that fought against the colonists. And he saw that the blessing of God rested upon the Americans so that eventually, by act of God, they obtained their independence.

When the Savior was among the Nephites, following His resurrection in Palestine, He also spoke of modern United States (this is recorded in the twenty-first chapter of 3 Nephi). The Savior said specifically that a great nation would occupy this area in our time and be set up as a free and independent country by act of our Heavenly Father. He specifically said that. Our country, our government was set up by act of God. It is a marvelous thing when you stop to think about it. He said that the reason the Lord had for doing so was that God had to fulfill a covenant He had made with the house of Israel, which covenant was that through the people occupying modern America, the teachings of the Book of Mormon—the teachings of the restored gospel—would be taken to the rest of the world. So here we have the Savior's own words to the effect that America was God's nation. He set it up and did so with a special purpose in mind, and that was to provide the conditions under which the gospel could be restored and then be taken to all the world.

Now, we who travel the world in behalf of the gospel do it on United States' passports. We travel with the protection of Old Glory—our Flag. Our Navy and Marines, our Air Force, our Army, protect us as necessary while we carry the gospel to all the free nations of the world so that they may, indeed, receive the blessings of that gospel. That is why there is a United States.

The United States then is God's country. It is His government set up specifically to provide freedom of speech and religion in this country so that our Church could be established here and so that we, as the missionaries of the Church, may travel the world over on American passports and have the protection of this great government as we preach the gospel to the world.

The Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith that our federal Constitution was written by men whom God inspired. He raised up these men specially and inspired them to write this great document. And then by revelation, the Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith that the members of this Church are to protect and guard this constitution. He said that He would justify us in defending this constitution and this way of life. And so, when we are called to go to war and fight in defense of this country, we fight also in defense of this Church. We fight also in defense of the gospel itself and the great principle that the Lord has given the gospel to the earth again in these last days to pave the way for the Second Coming of our Savior.

Christ will come again. The gospel is on the earth. It is a means of preparing for that coming, but we could not have this gospel today if it were not for the United States and our kind of government. Therefore, we must protect our country, even with our lives if necessary, because America is God's land.

I have always felt that the Stars and Stripes, our glorious flag, is God's own banner because it represents His country. This is the one nation in all the world which He acknowledges was set up by His own hand. I don't know of any other country in all the world, in any period of the world's history which God set up as a nation and for which He actually raised up men to write its constitution. So ours is a glorious country. It has a sacred destiny. It is closely related to the Church. That is why, as you go out, you not only represent the United States, but you represent the Church and you represent this great principle that God has set up this country to provide the means whereby we may take the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to all the world.

You see then, that you are representatives, not only of the United States, but of the Church and of Almighty God Himself. So, as you go out, we hope that you will live like representatives of the Lord. You will wear the uniform of the United States. It is a uniform of honor. There are men, and you will meet them, who desecrate this uniform and who ignore our standards. They refuse to uphold the ideals of this great country, but no matter what others may do, you must serve the Lord. You will find many clean men in the service as you also will find many who are not. But you stay with the clean men. Remember that even if you have to stand alone, you are still a Mormon. You are still a Latter-day Saint. You still represent the Church and you still represent Almighty God. Never forget it! Determine that you will not take your priesthood into any unclean places or into any conditions or circumstances which will bring disgrace upon it. Even if it costs you your life, stay clean. Represent the high spirituality that God expects us to uphold.

We have always told our young people, "It is better to die clean than to live an unclean life." I remember one of the Presidents of the Church saying in the Salt Lake Tabernacle that he would rather see a son or daughter of his go to the grave clean than to live an unclean life. We hope that as good Latter-day Saints, you will pray regularly. Read a little scripture every day, live the Word of Wisdom every day and every hour. Protect your chastity, your purity and virtue day and night, and in every way uphold and represent what God expects you to represent. You are His ambassadors.

Now the Church wants to show as much honor to you brethren going into the military service as we show to men going on a mission. It is a different kind of mission, but yet you can accomplish many of the same things that proselyting missionaries do. Even greater honor is yours because you are willing to risk your lives, if necessary, in doing this work. But in risking your life, know always that God will be by your side if only you will serve Him.

It is wonderful to hear of the miracles that are happening to our brethren in Vietnam. I was thrilled recently as I heard Elder Bruce R. McConkie recite some of the marvelous things that he heard among the brethren in Vietnam.

Now go into the service determined to live, really live. Live righteously so that God can bless you. If you will fight for Him, He will fight for you and will open the windows of Heaven and pour out such blessings upon you that you can hardly contain them. So we say to you, God bless you Brethren, God go with you. The Church loves you. The Church will feel after you. The Church will do all it can to help you. If you will be loyal to it, the Church will be loyal to you. God grant His choicest blessings to you all, I humbly pray in the sacred name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.