TOWN OF NEWBURGH – National Guard, Marine and other military personnel, members of the NYPD as well as local law enforcement and public officials gathered at the Stewart Air National Guard Base to pay their respects to the late Tech Sgt. Joseph Lemm, who was among six American service personnel who were killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan on December 21.
Sgt. Lemm’s full-time job was as a New York City Police officer.
Lemm, 45, was a resident of West Harrison and enlisted in the 105th Airlift Wing in 2008. This was his third deployment to the Middle East, serving his entire time with the 105th Base Defense Squadron as a security force member. He previously served in the military from 1988 to 1996.
Col. Timothy LaBarge, commander of the 105th Airlift Wing, said it was hard to elucidate, with words, the tragic loss of a hero such as Lemm.
“Authors, evangelists, poets and leaders of every persuasion, have often lamented the limitations that the written and spoken word bestows upon us,” said LaBarge. “Days and events like this are where mere mortals struggle; this is where words fail us. Where, no matter how genuine the intent, or intense the desire, the spoken word does no justice to the depth of the emotion.”
Residents in the Cornwall area pay their respects from a Thruway overpass
(photo: Jim Lennon)
Col. LaBarge expressed his empathy for those confused by why a man such as Lemm should perish.
“Tech Sgt. Lemm is a hero; he lived his life as a hero. He returns as a hero but, that fact, makes today only marginally easier,” said LaBarge. “It does not erase the pain, not by a long shot.”
A wake in honor of Sgt. Lemm will be held today at Saint Anthony of Padua Church in West Harrison between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Funeral services will be held at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, December 30. Burial will be at Gates of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne Following the funeral.
A second Stewart Guardsman, Staff Sgt. Louis Bonacasa, was also killed in the attack. He was a resident of Coram, in Suffolk County. He, too, served a total of three deployments to the region. He joined the Stewart 105th in 2010 after serving with the Guard’s 106th Security Forces Squadron at F.S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton Beach, New York.Details of arrangements for Sgt. Bonacasa will be announced later.
