Mead endorsed for department chaplain

Earl C. Hill Post 550 in Bloomington has endorsed James W. Mead for Department of Minnesota chaplain in 2025-26.

Mead is a two-time Chaplain of the Year for the 10th District. He has been an American Legion member for 48 years. He is a past vice commander and past Americanism chairman for the 10th District.

He served as Post 550 adjutant 2001-04 and commander 2004-06. He is presently in his eighth year as post chaplain. He has participated in the Bloomington Honor Guard for more than 30 years. He has served as commander and membership director of Squadron 550 for six years. He also is a member of 40&8 Voiture 1281.

Mead served two years in the Army, with basic at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and AIT at Fort Rucker, Ala. The Army stationed him at Fort Rucker, too, serving as a helicopter mechanic crew chief with the Army Aviation Board’s testing facility. (Today, it’s called the Aviation Technical Test Center.)

Most of the testing was at Fort Rucker, but he and his team left the base to perform testing at Fort Carson, Colo., and at Holloman AFB, N.M. He was fortunate to be part of a project for testing the Bell 214A helicopter, which are similar to Huey’s but can hold four additional soldiers.

After the service, Mead used his G.I. Bill benefit to get a degree from the Minnesota School of Business. He worked five years in restaurant management, then 24 years with the U.S. Postal Service.

He and his wife, Caroline, have two sons and six grandchildren.