MIDTOWN — Hundreds of mourners, including police, service members and political leaders gathered at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Wednesday to salute an NYPD Detective who was killed in Afghanistan last week.
In a service led by Cardinal Timothy Dolan and featuring missives from Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, loved ones and comrades said goodbye to Bronx detective Joseph Lemm — a technical sergeant in the Air National Guard and whose generous nature and handsome looks earned him the nickname "Superman."
“Today 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 said. "We honor a United States serviceman, an NYPD detective, a husband, father, son, brother, and for so many, a friend."
Lemm, of West Harrison, and six other servicemembers were killed on Dec. 21 when a Taliban suicide bomber drove a motorcycle into a convoy near Bagram Air Base and detonated himself, according to news reports and officials. It was his second tour of duty in the country, and he also served one tour in Iraq, officials said.
Lemm grew up in Beemer, Nebraska, and in 1988 joined the Air Force, serving on active duty for six years. After his discharge he moved to New York in order to fulfill his dream of joining the NYPD, which he did in 2000.
By achieving his goal of becoming a New York police officer and distinguishing himself by becoming a detective two years ago, Lemm’s 15-year career in the NYPD was a “true New York success story,” de Blasio said.
“It’s hard to come to New York and follow your dreams, but he did exactly that,” the mayor said. “He did something few people do: he answered the call of duty. He pursued that dream and became a cop and a great police officer.”
Lemm worked in the Bronx Warrant Squad, and was known by his fellow officers and people in the neighborhood as a hard worker and a practical jokester.
Barely a year after joining the NYPD, Lemm responded to Ground Zero on Sept. 11, and as the country came to grips with its new reality he was combing through the wreckage for weeks after the attacks. It was this experience in part that led him to serve overseas, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said.
“Fourteen years ago a war began,” Bratton said. “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.”
He leaves his wife Christine, teenage daughter Brooke, and 4-year-old son Ryan, along with his parents, a brother, and his extended family.
Lemm’s public life was defined by his service to his country and to the city of New York, but he was first and foremost a family man, according to his parish priest, Father Christopher Monturo, of Saint Anthony of Padua in West Harrison.
“Joe did everything completely,” Monturo said.
As an NYPD honor guard escorted Lemm’s casket out of the cathedral, his son Ryan, dressed in a tiny suit and perched atop the shoulders of a servicemember joined hundreds of police in saluting his father one final time.
