Lt. Col. John P. G. McPhee (February 12, 1899 – August 24, 1945)
327th Fighter Control Squadron, 9th Air Force
by Christina Flowers
Early Life
John Paynter Gordon McPhee was born in London, England, on February 12, 1899, to Hector and Amelia “Daisy” McPhee.1 Hector McPhee was born in Scotland and worked as a farm servant to a clergyman before moving to Islington, England as an adult, where he married Islington native Daisy Warr. Daisy and Hector married on January 23, 1893, with her brother Oliver as witness.2 During this time, Hector worked as a bricklayer and fitter.3
John attended school in England, eventually completing his high school education.4 Along with his father and five brothers, Donald (1890), Roderick (1893), Kenneth (1895), Hahnemann (1896), and Imre (1901), John served in the First World War. He served the Royal Air Force’s Royal Engineers as a sapper, the equivalent of a private, achieving the rank of corporal during the war.5 He earned the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his service.6
Three years after the war, the McPhee family began immigrating to Canada. Daisy left for Quebec with most of the McPhee family in October 1920. On August 8 of the following year, Hector departed, and John, twenty-two years old, left on August 25, as documented in his Canadian immigration record, Form 30A seen here.7
(Picture here – McPhee Canadian immigration)Upon arrival, John McPhee lived in Quebec, where he married Nellie Wale, another English immigrant.8 After spending two years in Canada, John and Nellie McPhee immigrated to the United States, entering through International Falls, MN, and living briefly in Sayre, PA, where their son Ian was born in 1927.9 By 1929, John, Nellie, and Ian made their home in Hudson, NY, staying there for over a decade.10 McPhee worked at the Chamber of Commerce for eighteen years, eventually rising to executive secretary.11
Military Service
On January 28, 1929, McPhee enlisted into the Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 10th Infantry, New York National Guard as a private.12 After the US entered World War II, McPhee registered for the young man’s draft in New York City, just a couple of years shy of meeting the cut-off age of forty-five.13 In 1942, the McPhees moved to Orlando, FL, where McPhee earned a commission as a captain in the Army Air Corps and attended the Fighter Command School.14 The Fighter Command School, which trained soldiers in air defense, was situated on the Orlando Army Air Force Base, today the Orlando Executive Airport on Colonial and Bumby Avenues.15 In 1943, McPhee eventually took charge of synthetic control, a method of comparative analysis between a control group and various non-control groups. Commanding officers utilized this method of cause and effect throughout the war as it prepared them for the many difficult decisions they would encounter.16
In August 1943, McPhee headed overseas as commander of the Ninth Air Force’s 327th Fighter Control Squadron, likely arriving in Aldermaston, England, on September 16.17 Formed in April 1942, the Ninth Air Force initially participated in the North African campaigns and, in 1943, supported the invasions of Italy. Moving to England in October 1943, they prepared for the invasion of France. The Ninth Air Force was one of the leading aerial forces assisting Allied units participating in the Normandy Landings on June 6, 1944.18 Using radar and radio, the 327th Fighter Control Squadron’s primary role was to work on the ground, advising Allied airmen on effective tactics and strategy regarding bombing targets, fighting German aircraft, and returning safely to Allied territory. The squadron remained highly mobile, regularly moving closer to the frontlines, and assisted in aerial missions throughout France, Belgium, and later in Germany.19
While the 327th Fighter Control Squadron was stationed in Weimar, Germany, the war ended in Europe on May 8, 1945. In the immediate postwar period, McPhee joined the instructors at the Biarritz American University in Biarritz, France.20 Part of the American Army Education program, the school aimed to educate soldiers and aid their reintegration into civilian life. The Biarritz American University sought out instructors to help educate the US soldiers still stationed in Europe. It selected instructors from a pool of officers, enlisted men, and civilians to satisfy the diverse range of academic subjects American GIs wished to study.21 McPhee likely became an instructor due to his experience conducting statistical analysis in Orlando and as acting commander of the 327th Fighter Control Squadron. Although a civilian environment, Biarritz retained one deadly feature: its “famous and extremely dangerous beach.”22
On August 24, 1945, one month after joining the university staff, McPhee noticed a young woman drowning in the strong currents while spending time on the beach.
McPhee dove into the water and rescued the girl but ultimately perished in the effort to save her. A British newspaper reported his death three days later. Newspapers in Orlando followed suit within the next month (Newpaper article), including this article from the Orlando Evening Star.23 Shortly after his death, the Army buried him in a cemetery near Aix-en-Provence, thirty miles north of Marseille.24 In 1956, the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) opened its permanent cemetery in Draguignan, France. ABMC staff reburied McPhee, memorializing him alongside over one thousand Americans.25
Legacy
McPhee was forty-six years old at the time of his death, leaving behind his wife and seventeen-year-old son, Ian. Following in his late father’s footsteps, Ian McPhee joined the military on his eighteenth birthday, just months after both the end of World War II and his father’s untimely death in November 1945.26 He enlisted as a private in the US Army at Camp Blanding, FL, in February 1946. Ian became a technical specialist connected with the Neurological Section of the Army, helping to operate electroencephalogram machines studying brain waves.27 He continued to work in medical research throughout his life[28
In 1951, following six years of widowhood, Nellie McPhee remarried to Horace Eugene Galloway; they resided in Wauchula, FL, Galloway’s home city.29 Ian McPhee passed away in 1988 at sixty, survived by his mother, Nellie McPhee Galloway, daughters, Sandy Greigo and Debbie Westback, and three grandchildren.30
Lieutenant Colonel John P. G. McPhee’s life extended across multiple continents, successful vocational pursuits, educational achievement, and military service in two world wars. In each stage of his life, McPhee exhibited relentless courage and selflessness, giving the great majority of his life to the service and defense of others. McPhee’s character and legacy lived on in his son’s military service, the educational institutions and military units he served, and in his final act of saving another’s life. Although tragically cut short, McPhee’s life is remembered and esteemed by the descendants he left behind and by those who learn about his life. John P. G. McPhee is interred in the Rhone American Cemetery and Memorial where he may forever rest in peace.31
1“England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915,” database, Ancestry.com (https://search.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for John Paynter G McPhee, Fulham, London, England.
2 “The Surrey, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1937,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed January 27, 2023), entry for Daisy Amelia Warr, Islington, London, England; “The Surrey, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1937,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed January 27, 2023), entry for Amelia Daisy McLeod, Islington, London, England.
3“1881 Scotland Census,” database, Ancestry.com (https://search.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for Hector MacPhee, Barra, Inverness shire; “1901 England Census,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for John McPhee, Fulham, London, England; “1911 England Census,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for John McPhee, Edmonton, Middlesex, England; “London, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1965,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed December 6, 2022), entry for Hector McPhee; “1871 England Census,” database, Ancestry.com (https://search.ancestry.com: accessed January 16, 2023), entry for Amelia Warr, Islington, London, England.
4 “1911 England Census;” “1940 U.S. Census,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for John P G McPhee, Queens, New York.
5 “1911 England Census;” “London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1923,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed March 27, 2023), entry for Hahnemann Glen McPhee; “London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1923,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed March 27, 2023), entry for Imre McPhee; “London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1923,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed March 27, 2023), entry for Hector Roderick McPhee; “World War Stories Win Tickets for Trio,” Times-Union (Albany, New York), September 16, 1930.
6 “UK, British Army World War I Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920,” database, Ancestry.com (https://search.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for John P G McPhee, sappers, WO 329, Royal Engineers; “Canada, Ocean Arrivals (Form 30A), 1919-1924,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for Corporal John Paynter Gordon McPhee; “UK, British Army World War I Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for John P G McPhee, service number 134057, 619518.
7 “Canada, Ocean Arrivals (Form 30A), 1919-1924,” database Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed January 27, 2023), entry for Daisy McPhee; “Canada, Ocean Arrivals (Form 30A), 1919-1924,” database Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed January 27, 2023), entry for John P G McPhee; “Canada, Ocean Arrivals (Form 30A), 1919-1924,” database Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed March 17, 2023), entry for Hector McPhee.
8 “Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for John Payntes Goudou McPhee, St-Andrew, Lachine, Québec, Canada; “1940 U.S. Census.”
9 “U.S., Border Crossings from Canada to U.S., 1895-1960,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for John Paynter Gordon McPhee; “U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for John P. G. McPhee; “U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed March 27, 2023), entry for Ian Francis McPhee.
10 “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for John P G McPhee, Hudson, New York.
11 “Lt. Col. McPhee Loses Life in Biarritz,” Orlando Evening Star (Orlando, Florida), September 16, 1945; “1940 U.S. Census.”
12 “New York, U.S., New York National Guard Service Cards, 1917-1954,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for John P G McPhee, Hq Co 10th Infantry.
13 “U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for John P. G. McPhee, service number O-903144; “Research Starters: The Draft and World War II: The National WWII Museum: New Orleans,” The National WWII Museum New Orleans, accessed February 13, 2023.
14 “Lt. Col. McPhee Loses Life in Biarritz,” Orlando Evening Star.
15 Randall Degering, Radar Contact (Maxwell AFB: Air University Press, 2018), 74; Jane Tracey, “Orlando Army Air Force Base,” Orlando Memory, Orange County Library System, October 30, 2018 (https://orlandomemory.info/places/orlando-army-air-base/: accessed November 11, 2022).
16 “Lt. Col. McPhee Loses Life in Biarritz,” Orlando Evening Star; Pinuccia Calia, Giovanni Sistu, and Elisabetta Strazzera, “The Impact of Military Downsizing on Two Italian Communities: A Counterfactual Approach Using the Synthetic Control Method,” Defense and Peace Economics 32, no. 5 (2021): 601.
17 “Lt. Col. McPhee Loses Life in Biarritz,” Orlando Evening Star; “327th Fighter Control Squadron,” American Air Museum in Britain, accessed February 15, 2023, https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/unit/327th-fighter-control-squadron.
18 “9th Air Force,” Army and Air Corps Library and Museum, accessed February 15, 2023, https://www.armyaircorpsmuseum.org/wwii_9th_Air_Force.cfm
19 327th Fighter Control Squadron, Record of the 327th Fighter Control Squadron (Weimar: Weimarer Druck und Verlagsanstalt Gebr. Knabe K. G., 1945), pp. 3-14.
20 327th Fighter Control Squadron, Record of the 327th Fighter Control Squadron, 22; “Lt. Col. McPhee Loses Life in Biarritz,” Orlando Evening Star.
21 “GI University at Biarritz,” The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), September 16, 1945; Francis H. Horn, “An Evaluation of Biarritz American University,” Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors (1915-1955) 33, no. 4 (1947): 730.
22 “GI University at Biarritz,” The Baltimore Sun.
23 “Lt. Col. McPhee Loses Life in Biarritz,” Orlando Evening Star; “Noted Airman Lost In Rescue Attempt,” Aberdeen Evening Express (Aberdeen, United Kingdom), August 27, 1945; “Lt. Col. M’Phee Saved Girl,” Orlando Evening Star (Orlando, Florida), September 27, 1945; “U.S., Headstone and Internment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 28 March 2023), entry for John P. G. McPhee, service number 0-903144; Sheila Charman, email correspondence, October 10, 2022. Special thanks to Sheila Charman who gathered family research and pictures. Much of the information sent by Mrs. Charman was extraordinarily useful during the writing of this biography. Once again, thank you.
24 Sheila Charman, email correspondence, 2022.
25 “Rhone American Cemetery,” American Battle Monuments Commission, accessed March 17, 2023, https://www.abmc.gov/Rhone; “John P. G. McPhee,” American Battle Monuments Commission, accessed November 8, 2022, https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/mcphee%3Djohn-1; While NARA lists McPhee as a POW dying in a Stalag camp, this does not line up with other evidence from newspapers and family sources. It appears that McPhee’s death was confused with another officer by the same last name. “Records for World War II Prisoners of War, created 1942-1947,” database, archives.gov (https://www.archives.gov: accessed March 28, 2023), entry for McPhee, John P G, service number 0-903144; “Lt. Col. McPhee Loses Life in Biarritz,” Orlando Evening Star; Sheila Charman, email correspondence, 2022.
26 “U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for Ian Hector McPhee.
27 “Ian McPhee,” Orlando Evening Star (Orlando, Florida), January 21, 1949.
28 “1950 U.S. Census,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for Ian F. McPhee, Denver, Colorado.
29 “Galloway-McPhee,” The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), August 1, 1951.
30 “U.S., Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed November 8, 2022), entry for Ian Francis McPhee, Orlando, Florida. Ian McPhee’s obituary does not mention his wife Betty L. McPhee as one of his survivors. We have not determined why she is missing from his obituary. We did find Betty in the Social Security Death Index; she died in 1998 in Colorado. “U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed March 27, 2023), entry for Betty L. McPhee.
31 Sheila Charman, email correspondence, 2022. According to McPhee’s niece Sheila, while stationed in England, McPhee gathered materials and encased them in a wooden chest, entrusting them to family members living in England until the war’s end. Given that he had been writing to his wife regarding silverware he had been gathering while taking trips into France, it seems possible he kept what he collected in the wooden chest. After McPhee’s death, Nellie made efforts to retrieve the chest and its alleged silverware contents, attempting to sue his family members when they claimed to know nothing of it. Eventually, his family in England opened the chest and discovered a collection of grenades and guns inside. They informed the police, who confiscated the chest of weapons. McPhee’s reasons for collecting and storing the weapons remained a mystery.