Just before former Greenwich resident Herbert Bingham Mead passed away on his 86th birthday in 2010, he asked his son Jeffrey Bingham Mead to research and publish a book about the time he served in postwar Beijing and Tianjin with the 1st U.S. Marine Division.
With pictures and stories his father left behind, Mead has been researching those post-World War II chaotic, tense times. His history blog, My Dad the U.S. China Marine, has attracted the attention and interest of other China Marine descendants and others interested.
As a result of his interest and work, the Chinese government extended an official invitation to Jeffrey Bingham Mead to attend the September 3 Victory Day commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the surrender of the Empire of Japan in 1945. He represented his late father and the ‘U.S. China Marines.’
With other invited dignitaries including the renowned Flying Tigers, Doolittle Raiders and others from around the world, Mead attended the military parade in central Beijing, the luncheon and speech by President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People, and the evening gala at the Great Hall broadcast live on CCTV in China.
Mr. Mead will speak on his experiences in Beijing, various commemoration events and showing slide photos from those events. He was also a guest of the Beijing Sihai Confucius Academy.
Mead is a native and descendant of the founders of Greenwich. He earned his B.A. in Communications from Pace University, and continued his Master’s studies in Education at Manhattanville College.
Mead is a former trustee of the Greenwich Historical Society, an author, educator and historian, the co-founder and president of History Education Hawaii, the official council of the National Council for History Education, a former instructor at Hawaii Tokai International College and the Honda International Center of Kapiolani Community College in Honolulu. Mead is the president of The Pacific Learning Consortium, Inc. He makes his home in Greenwich and Honolulu, HI.
Sunday, Oct 11, 2015, starting 1:30 pm at Greenwich Library, second-floor Meeting Room, 101 West Putnam Avenue.
Admission: Free. Limited seating. Advanced registration/RSVP requested. Call 808-721-0306 or email JeffreyBinghamMead@