170 years ago today - Dec 13, 1946

Ezra Taft Benson ends his mission, leaveing Europe for the U.S. During his European relief mission, he traveled 61,236 miles—counting both transatlantic flights—and helped to coordinate the delivery of the equivalent of fifty-one train carloads, weighing some 2,000 tons, of relief supplies.

Confronting the horrors of National Socialism and Stalinist Communism, he developed a deep, abiding hatred of fascism, socialism, and especially communism. For Benson, individual liberty lay at the heart of God's plan for his children. The many lessons of that "never-to-be-forgotten year" would remain with Benson throughout his life.

[Source: Gary James Bergera, "Ezra Taft Benson's 1946 Mission to Europe" Journal of Mormon History 34:2 (Spring 2008)]