Second Lieutenant McPherson was the pilot of a F-80C Shooting Star fighter interceptor with the 80th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 8th Fighter Bomber Group. On September 28, 1952, while on a combat mission and making a target run, the aircraft's wing tanks broke off, causing the plane to go into a spin and crash. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.