(Part 1)

In September 1948, Elder James J. McFarlane, a young elder from the United States serving in Aleppo, Syria, was summoned, with his three missionary companions, to the offices of the Surété Generale, Syria’s security agency, and interrogated about a letter he had written to a missionary friend in South America. That letter detailed the primitive conditions under which the elders worked – unstable water and electrical supplies, unsanitary water and food – but also spoke highly of the quality of the people he had met. Under Syria’s post-World War II censorship laws, and with concern for the Arab-Israeli war following the 1947 establishment of Israel, Elder McFarlane’s criticism of conditions in Aleppo was viewed by the Syrian government as anti-Syrian propaganda. After answering all questions, and following a meeting with Omar Abu Risha, Syria’s minister of education, Elder McFarlane and his companions were released. They went about their missionary activities, assuming that all problems connected with Elder McFarlane’s letter had been resolved.

But on Monday, November 15th, all four Elders were again summoned to Surété Generale headquarters and were notified that they were no longer welcome in the country. They were to be deported, and ordered to leave Syria within forty-eight hours.

The young men immediately sought advice from Alford Carleton, president of the American College in Aleppo. Mr. Carleton, a Congregational clergyman, and lived in Aleppo since 1937, and had served in many capacities – selective service officer, American Red Cross representative, etc. – in service to Americans in the region. Mr. Carleton advised them to go to Damascus and see the American consul there.

So, the four left Aleppo the next morning and traveled to Damascus, where they met with John F. O’Grady, the vice consul. Mr. O’Grady arranged an appointment with them with a Mr. Djabi, head of Surété Generale, who told them that the deportation order applied only to Elder McFarlane; the other three elders were free to return to Aleppo and continue their work there. Mr. Djabi had reviewed Elder McFarlane’s letter, and took offense to only one sentence: “The Arab language sounds very harsh and guttural, and is difficult to learn; the spoken language is completely different than the written language.”

Vice Consul O’Grady managed to secure a one-week extension of the deportation order, and tried in other ways to assist Elder McFarlane. His efforts were unsuccessful, though, so at the end of the week Elder McFarlane, accompanied by Elder Connell and Albert Ouzounian, a local elder and the branch president at Aleppo, left Syria and went to mission headquarters in Lebanon. Although the American consul suggested that Elder McFarlane continue to fight his deportation, mission president Badwagan Piranian, knowing that Syria and Lebanon had a joint security agreement and that Elder McFarlane might soon be ordered out of Lebanon as well, decided to transfer both Elder McFarlane and Elder Shelton – the elder referred to in Part 1 whose appearance raised suspicions among Arabs in Beirut that he was Jewish – to other missions where they could continue to serve without the likelihood of further trouble.

Both elders were transferred to the French Mission; both completed their missions.

Elder McFarlane then went on to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from BYU, and a degree in dental surgery from UCBerkeley. He married, raised his family, and conducted a dental practice in Livermore, California for 32 years, then retired to Morgan County, Utah, where he passed away in 2009.