John P. Tinneny (1916-1988) was the son of  James Tinneny of Greenock, Scotland and Philadelphia and Gertrude A. Spence.  He was born and raised in Philadelphia and dropped out of Roxborough High School to join the Marines in September 1934.  After completing basic training at Paris Island, he was assigned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard as a military policeman until the spring of 1935 at which time he shipped out to China.  He spent the next several years assigned for a brief time in Shanghai then with the mounted Marine Guard at the U. S. Embassey in Peiping.  When the Marines pulled out of China he was transferred to the Philippine Islands where he was stationed at Cavite until his return to the States at the end of his four year enlistment.