John S. McHenry II

John S. McHenry II
Born	October 12, 1907 Virginia, Illinois
Died	September 17, 1994
NSA member	Korea 1966 - 1971
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Butler
Children	John (1932 - 2006) Peter (b. 1937)

Colonel John S. McHenry II (October 12, 1907 - September 17, 1994) was an American Bahá’í who helped establish the Bahá’í Faith in Korea.

Biography

McHenry was born in Virginia, Illinois, in 1907. In his youth he studied at the University of Illinois undertaking Army Reserve Officer training and becoming a commissioned officer. In 1929 he married Elizabeth Butler.

In 1931 McHenry bought a house in Wilmette, Illinois, from Zia Bagdadi who introduced him to the Bahá’í Faith and he learnt more about the religion from Howard Colby Ives and Corinne, Edna, Katherine, and Arna True, Horace Holley, and Stanwood Cobb. In 1941 he began serving in the Army Air Corps as a non-combatant pilot stationed on Tinker Air Force Base near Oklahoma City. He and his wife taught the Faith in the area and Louis Gregory visited them and hosted firesides in their home. In 1945 WWII ended and McHenry returned to civilian life and his family returned to Wilmette where they hosted firesides and hosted Bahá’ís visiting the Wilmette Temple. By the end of the year the family moved to Ontario, California, and McHenry founded an insurance agency and continued hosting firesides.

In 1950 McHenry was recalled to the Air Force when the Korean war began, and he was deployed to Korea. While living in Korea he established a Boy Scout troop for local Koreans and provided them with uniforms himself. After completing a tour of Korea he was deployed to Tachikawa, Japan, and regularly visited Korea to teach the Faith accompanied by Donald Witzel and he also visited Taiwan to teach. As of 1953 he had moved to Tokyo and his wife had joined him in Japan and they were both elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Tokyo that year. That year McHenry located Saichiro Fujita at the request of Shoghi Effendi who had sent him to Japan for his safety at the outbreak of WWII but had lost touch with him.

In September 1953 McHenry and his wife returned to the United States and he attempted to reestablish his insurance agency however he was unsuccessful and resumed his military career being deployed to Chateauroux, France, around 1955. Shoghi Effendi invited the McHenry's to go on pilgrimage however they were unable to do so until after his passing in 1957 making their pilgrimage in late 1960 to early 1961. As of 1963 McHenry had achieved the rank of Colonel and that year he returned to the United States however in 1964 he was deployed to Korea again and in 1966 he was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Korea. He was instrumental to the purchase and refurbishment of the National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds of Korea.

In 1971 McHenry moved from Korea back to the United States settling in Placitas, New Mexico, and he engaged in travel teaching across the state of New Mexico into his old age. He passed away in 1994 and the Universal House of Justice conveyed the following message after his passing:

GRIEVED NEWS PASSING DEVOTED FOLLOWER BAHA‘U’LLAH, COLONEL JOHN S. MCHENRY II. KINDLY CONVEY LOVING SYMPATHY HIS SON, JOHN MCHENRY III, AND OTHER MEMBERS HIS FAMILY. PRAYING HOLY SHRINES HIS SOUL ALL WORLDS GOD.