Lt. Mike McAlinden,

Thank you for your service, Marine!!!. Thank you for these pictures. All were received opened and appreciated.  Please accept our gratitude.

We send our best to Lt.Col.(Col. Select) Connally, USMC, Lt. Clark, USMC (of Wilmette), Cpl Legner, USMC (north sider), and to you our Lt. Mike Mack (South Sider).

We sincerely appreciate the "I will" Spirit of Chicago significance of our Chicago Flag atop your 3/11 Headquarters building. Its two horizontal bars in light blue, signifying the confluence of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, connect the "I will" Spirit of Chicago to all 3/11 Marines and to Lt. Gilmartin,USA in Kirkuk and to Pfc. Phil Ruiz & Pfc. Mike Blough,USMC in Fallujah and over 60 of our neighbors serving with from our neighborhood. We appreciate your service to the people of Iraq around and between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers, in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. 

You are all appreciated, you are all honored and you are all revered for your Service. Please tell everyone in 3/11 we said so and we mean it.

We copy The Honorable Ginger Rugai, Alderman of the 19th Ward, who with Parade Grand Marshall Major John P. Mee, USMC (HMM-364 "The Purple Foxes") both of whom presented this City of Chicago Flag, as Chicago natives, to your fine parents, Kevin and Pat McAlinden,( with Brendan, Kate and Megan there too!)  at the Memorial Day Parade Ceremonies at Ridge Park Field, here in Beverly/Morgan Park 

We copy to The Honorable James A. Balcer, Alderman of the 11th Ward (Marine Pfc.1969 Mortarman Ashau Valley "Dewey Canyon" Delta 1/9) for his unequalled leadership carrying forward the tradition his Marine Corps service (former Private First Class, 1969, Mortarman in "Dewey Canyon", Delta 1/9, Ashau Valley) which is linked to the Flag presented to Marines at Hill 881S in 1969 by the Venerable Mayor Richard J. Daley as Mayor of The City of Chicago. We forward through Alderman Balcer, your fine pictures from atop the 3/11 HQ Building, Ar Ramadi, for presentation to our Mayor Richard M. Daley, for his further appreciation as Mayor of  The City of Chicago, County of Cook and State of Illinois. We shall ask distribution further to Secretary of State of Illinois, The Honorable Jesse White, (US Army  Paratrooper in the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division) noting the Secretary's fine service and work with his Illinois Veterans Advisory Committee.

Semper Fi Marines!!!

The Donovan Family and Friends throughout the City of Chicago
07-18-04

A distinguished member of the United States armed forces will serve as this year’s Grand Marshal for the annual Beverly/Morgan Park Memorial Day Parade.  Major John P. Mee, a product of St. Cajetan grammar school and Brother Rice High School, received his higher education and a degree in history from Northern Illinois University.  He went on to a notable career in the United States Marine Corps, serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom in Kuwait as aircraft maintenance officer, as well as holding other significant posts.  He is currently the Executive Officer of the Purple Foxes at Camp Pendleton, California. The Purple Foxes are comprised of  Marine medium helicopters, which have participated in every United States conflict since 1964 up to the present.

While a college freshman at NIU, Mee saw an ad in the school paper offering a career in aviation in the United States Marines.  Although he had no previous ambition to serve in the military, this proposal interested him.  He met with a recruiting officer, and upon graduation  Mee entered the Marine Corps.  He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in 1990, then reported to Naval Flight Training in Pensacola, Florida and was designated a CH-46E Sea Knight pilot.

Mee has received the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal  and the Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal.

Mee is married to the former Tanna Holding of Independence, MO.  They met through mutual friends in California and were married in 1995.  The couple has three children, John, 7, Sean, 6 and Gavin, 1.

“It’s been eight years since I was back in the neighborhood,” Mee said. “It’s quite an honor to be asked to be Grand Marshall [of the parade].  I’m looking forward to coming back to see old friends. I don’t get to do it very often.”