KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- For our Fallen Warrior commemoration this week, we remember Air National Guard Tech. Sgt. Joseph Lemm, 105th Security Forces Squadron member.
Joseph was a 1989 graduate of Beemer High School, Beemer, Nebraska. He liked to talk up his beloved Nebraska Cornhuskers every football season at work, which brought on friendly competition from his colleagues in the land of the Giants and Jets.
He served in the military from 1988 to 1996 before becoming a detective with the New York Police Department’s Bronx Warrant Squad. While a member of the NYPD, Joseph was deployed three times, twice to Afghanistan and once to Iraq.
Shirley Lemm, Joseph’s mother, remembered that her son, as an NYPD officer, spent weeks searching for survivors at ground zero following 9/11 and rejoined the military so he could better provide for his family, saying, “he loved what he did. He was proud of what he did.”
He had enlisted in the 105th Airlift Wing in 2008, serving with the 105th Base Defense Squadron as a security forces member.
Joseph was killed in December 2015 when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden motorcycle into a joint patrol with Afghan security forces outside of Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.
He is survived by his wife, children and mother.
Editor's note: The Fallen Warrior series highlights Fallen Warriors who exemplify our core values and paid the ultimate sacrifice. Take a moment to honor this week’s hero.