A bittersweet 75th anniversary ceremony will be held in Queens this summer to honor two NYPD detectives killed during a bombing at the 1940 World’s Fair there.
Detectives Joseph Lynch, 33, and Ferdinand “Fred” Socha — members of the department’s Bomb and Forgery Squad — were killed instantly during the mysterious terror attack at Flushing Meadow Park on July 4.
Those attending this year’s memorial ceremony July 11 include Easter “Essie’’ Miles, 85, the eldest of Lynch’s five children and the last still alive.
When the bombing occurred, Essie was a 10-year-old schoolgirl.
“I grew up overnight,” Essie said. “When I found out, I said, ‘Who’s going to take care of my mother?’ ”
Her mom was left with a meager $130 monthly pension. The widow also earned another $50 a month providing clean linens to a Bronx police station house.
Essie’s dad and Socha were summoned to the fair’s British Pavilion that day after an electrician found a suspicious satchel in a “fan room,” according to reports at the time.
The buff-colored canvas bag was emitting an ominous ticking sound, so it was gingerly carried to the rear of a secluded area near the Van Wyck Expressway, where it was placed beneath a 20-foot maple tree.
Lynch took out a pocketknife and carefully slit open a 2-inch hole in the bag as his partner knelt down to look inside and saw what appeared to be dynamite.
“It’s the business,” Lynch reportedly said — and the bomb exploded seconds later.
The blast ripped a crater 5 feet wide and 3 feet deep, killing both men and critically injuring four of their colleagues.
Patrolman Emil Vyskocil was hit with shards of shrapnel in his back and legs, while Detectives William Federer and Joseph Gallagher suffered compound fractures of their legs and burns, with the latter losing an eye. Detective Martin Schuchman suffered burns.
Some terror experts suspected that the bomb was the work of the German Bund, a pro-Fascist German nationalist group. Others speculated the Irish Republican Army.
NYPD Lt. Bernard Whalen, an author who has helped plan the anniversary event, thinks it might have been an “inside job” carried out by someone tied to the British government.
“America at that time was ambivalent about joining the war effort. England needed the United States on their side, so what better way was there of accomplishing this than by planting a bomb at their pavilion on the Fourth of July?” said Whalen, who is writing a historical novel on the event.
The case remains unsolved.
Essie, Lynch’s daughter, a resident of Orange, CT, said she expects to attend the memorial with her son, four grandchildren and a handful of nieces and nephews.
Also expected to be there is Emil Vyskocil, 76, a retired chemist and father of seven from Rockville Centre, who recalled how his namesake father had to retire early because of the injuries the bomb inflicted.
“I think it is great,” he said of the planned ceremony.
Socha’s nephew, Fred, 74, a retired businessman, from Lady Lake, Fla., lamented that he can’t attend but said other relatives will be there.
Fred Socha told The Post he remembers being mercilessly teased as a young schoolboy by his classmates once they knew he’d been named Ferdinand, after his uncle.
“I asked my father, ‘Why was I named Ferdinand? I hate the name Ferdinand!’ My father sat me down and told me, ‘You were named after a hero, so shut up!’ I was OK with it after that,” he said.