Patrolman James R. "J.R." Boyce, Jr.

It was 50 years ago this very evening as I sit composing my thoughts to write this reflection. My memories are scarce but vivid. I was barely five years old when the news came to our family that J.R. had fallen in the line of duty.

I remember being very confused. I was seeing my beloved uncle’s picture on the Chicago evening television news, but I didn’t understand the words that the newscaster was saying. I felt certain that my uncle had achieved celebrity status—certainly a hero because his photograph was being shown on television! Yet, I couldn’t reconcile my excitement with the tears that my mother and grandmother were shedding, there, that fateful evening, in our living room. It would take many years for me to fully understand the gaping hole that had been blown in our small family that night, the horrible pain and loss that had been inflicted.

My mother, J.R.’s sister, recently passed away. To her dying day she spoke often of how a young girl’s greatest gift is having a big brother. She spoke of how J.R. was her hero, and of how much she missed him. She spoke of how unfair it was that he had been taken from us, from his wife, and from his children, at such a young age.

Fifty years is a long time, but my brother and I pledge to never forget. Tonight, we light a candle for our uncle, our mother’s brother, our grandmother’s son, our community’s fallen hero. With time we can learn to forgive, but may we never forget.

Jeff and Greg Lanter
Nephews

October 5, 2024