Lieutenant Commander John R McFie Jr.
The following is the obituary that ran following his death and is taken from the New Mexico Historical Review:
John R. McFie, Jr.
Report by the U. S. War Department that John R. McFie, Jr., was killed on February 7, 1945, by enemy action during the shelling by the Japanese of the Santo Tomas internment camp at Manila on Luzon in the Philippines, has brought sorrow not only to his immediate family and other relatives but also to the large number of friends who esteemed him for his fine personality.
The deceased was the son and namesake of the late Judge McFie, a veteran of the Civil War, who for many years was a justice of the Supreme Court of the Territory of New Mexico, one of the founders of the Agricultural College and (later) a founder and regent of the Museum of New Mexico and the School of American Research.
John R. McFie, Jr., was born in Las Cruces, County of Dona Ana, on April 25, 1889. He was a prep, student at the Territorial College (1904-5), but the family home had been moved to Santa Fe in 1899 and there he graduated from High School. Later at Albuquerque, he completed the business course at the University of New Mexico. Taking the law course at the University of Michigan, he graduated from that institution in June, 1914, and was admitted to the New Mexico Bar, practicing his profession in Santa Fe, Gallup and Albuquerque. A regent of the University of New Mexico, he resigned to join his brother, Ralph, a quarter of a century ago in the Philippine Islands. At Manila he engaged in the practice of law and in extensive business activities, including a hemp plantation on Mindanao.
McFie served in World War I, was cited at Verdun for bravery and was commissioned a lieutenant. In 1928, at Kobe, in Japan, he was married to Dorothy Podmore who was interned with him in Santo Tomas University but was freed by the U. S. troops who took Manila. She was reported seriously ill, but has since then arrived in Los Angeles where she is near the older son, Merwin, a lieutenant in the U. S. Air forces. The other son, Colin, aged 15, is with relatives in Honolulu, Hawaii Islands. Surviving McFie also are a twin sister, Mrs. Lawrence B. Lackey, and Mrs. Lansing B. Bloom (both of Albuquerque) and Miss Amelia McFie of Los Angeles.
Lt Cmdr John R McFie Jr. died seven days after the Santo Tomas Internment camp had been liberated. Retreating Japanese forces shelled the camp resulting in the loss of 30 lives. He was 56 years of age at the time of his death.