Richard Earl Garbett

Elder Garbett, along with other Netherlands missionaries received word on September 16, 1939 that they would be going back to the United States due to the possibility of war. They were moved to Rotterdam, where they spent three weeks waiting for a ship from the United States. They finally set sail on September 26th on the S.S Pennland. They were on the water thirteen days, traveling only during daylight hours and dropping anchor at night. Coming through the English Channel, they were escorted by planes in the air, and an English Skipper in the water, because the channel was planted with mines. While waiting in Rotterdam, Elder Garbett had met two boys from the United States. These boys were sailing back to the U.S. at the same time that the missionaries were, but they were sailing on a freighter which struck a mine, and was blown up. Luckily, a life boat broke loose from their ship before it went down, and twenty-four of the forty-eight passengers survived. These two boys were rescued by the ship that Elder Garbett was on, and the only thing they saved was the clothes on their backs. In his own words, Elder Garbett said, "We are sailing back to the United States with faith in God that we might be spared from striking a mine or an enemy submarine or something." "Finally, with the help of the Lord, we made it back to the New York Harbor." He spent three days in New York, and from there was assigned to the East Central States Mission, under President William T. Tew.

He was transferred from the Netherlands Mission to the East Central States Mission when World War Two broke out in 1940. He completed his mission in the East Central States. He served in Goldsboro, North Carolina for eight months, and was then sent to Raleigh. While speaking in church one Sunday in Raleigh, his appendix ruptured and  he collapsed. It took three days to notify everyone before surgery could be done, and as a result, gangrene set in. He spent 21 days in the hospital. When he was well enough to travel, he was sent to Roanoke, Virginia, and then later to Louisville, Kentucky. In the meantime, he was still struggling with related health issues, and was under a doctor's care, who recommended that he be sent to the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake for observation. It was at this point that he was officially released from his mission.