07/07/2026
On July 4th we celebrated America’s 250th but we also paused to remember Detective Joseph J. Lynch.
Joseph J. Lynch
Detective, New York Police Department
Served 1936 through July 4, 1940
Detective Joseph Lynch was a veteran officer of the New York Police Department (NYPD) and assigned to the NYPD Forgery and Bomb Squad. Detective Lynch and his partner Detective Ferdinand Socha were called to the World’s Fair Grounds in Flushing, Queens, New York on the 4th of July 1940. They were directed to the British Pavilion after an electrician found a suspicious satchel in a utility room. Upon confirming that the package was emitting a ticking sound, Detectives Socha and Lynch quickly carried it away to a secluded area near the Van Wyck Expressway. Detective Lynch took out a pocketknife and slit open a 2-inch hole in the bag as Detective Socha knelt to look inside. As the Detectives were examining the package, the bag exploded. The explosion opened a crater 5 feet wide and 3 feet deep, instantly killing both Detectives, and injuring nearby police officers.
Detective Lynch was survived by his wife and five children. Easter “Lynch” Miles, the eldest of the five Lynch children, attended the April 16, 2007, dedication of the Bomb Technician Memorial (at the FBI Hazardous Devices School) as the oldest surviving child of a bomb technician killed in the line of duty. Miles assisted in “unveiling” the bomb technician statue at the memorial dedication.
