NYPD Detective Killed in Afghanistan Laid to Rest in Archdiocese

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A salute from his 4-year-old son was one of the most respectful farewells given NYPD Detective and New York Air National Guard Tech. Sgt. Joseph Lemm, 45, who was killed in action in Afghanistan and buried in the archdiocese on a cold December afternoon.

Cardinal Dolan served as principal celebrant at the Dec. 30 Funeral Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He reminded the assembly that the gathering was to profess the faith, to praise God and give thanks for the life and gift of Lemm, and to ask God’s mercy upon Lemm’s noble soul.

Lemm, a Midwest native who was on his third deployment overseas, died Dec. 21 when a suicide bomber attacked his patrol in a village outside Bagram Air Base in the Parwan Province. Another New York Air National Guard member, Staff Sgt. Louis Michael Bonacasa, 31, of Coram, also died in the attack. Four other U.S. Air Force members also perished.

Lemm’s pastor, Father Christopher Monturo of St. Anthony of Padua parish in West Harrison, served as homilist at the Funeral Mass and presided over the committal prayers at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne.

Father Monturo, in his homily, recalled the first time he shook Lemm’s hand which, he said, completely enveloped his. “I looked up at him and at his enormous stature and his impressive physical build and I said to him, ‘Joe, if I ever find myself in any trouble I would like you on my side.’ He looked back at me with that funny smile and said, ‘I’m always on your side, Father Chris.’

“His co-workers in the NYPD called Joe ‘Superman’ and rightly so,” Father Monturo continued. “Now we see how appropriate that name was and is. They said he looked a little like Christopher Reeve, but more importantly he possessed supernatural abilities which allowed him to do things few could. I’d like to believe those abilities have only been strengthened now as this ‘super man’ we knew and loved continues to be on all of our sides forever.”

That Lemm’s passing occurred the day before winter solstice may be providential, suggested Father Monturo in his homily, since the first day of winter is the darkest of the year. Although it has the least amount of sunlight, “even God’s creation helps to console us since each passing day adds one more minute of sunlight until the days become longer and the warmth of spring and summer returns.”

“It is a subtle reminder,” Father Monturo continued, “of the truth we celebrate in this Christmas season that truly the Light of Christ has conquered the darkness of the world.”

A wake was held at St. Anthony of Padua Church Dec. 29.

The services drew numerous members of the NYPD, U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard, as well as dignitaries and elected officials. Among them were Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Delivering eulogies were de Blasio, Bratton and Major Gen. Patrick Murphy, Adjutant General of New York State.

Bratton began his eulogy by looking back at Lemm’s service on 9/11. “Joseph Lemm was a rookie NYPD cop then, and he was in the war from the start, sifting through the smoldering debris in the heartbreaking search for survivors,” Bratton said.

“Three times, this war took him thousands of miles away from his family, and the city and country he so dearly loved. And now it has taken him farther than miles. It has taken him to a new post in eternity.”

“Today,” continued Bratton, “we say farewell to a hero of our time and a hero for all ages, a patriot who centered his life on protecting others.”

Bratton posthumously promoted Lemm to detective first grade in the NYPD.

“He was a hero when his city and his country needed one, an unceasing guardian at the gate,” Bratton said. “And now, a guardian at the gates of heaven.”

Born in Dubuque, Iowa, and raised in Beemer, Neb., Lemm enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after high school where he served for six years. After his discharge and move to New York, he joined the NYPD in 2000. He joined the Air National Guard in 2008. Throughout the next six years, while still serving in the NYPD, he was deployed abroad.

“The people of Iraq and Afghanistan needed him, too,” Bratton said. “And he served them, with great distinction, to his final moments—when he was once again, in his final act of selflessness, attempting to protect and serve his five colleagues…who died with him in that dusty street 7,000 miles from home.”

In addition to son Ryan, Lemm is survived by his wife, Christine; daughter Brooke, 17; a brother, Brian Lemm, and his parents, Charles Ronek and Shirley Lemm.