Roll of Honor
John Richard Zykas
Incident
Location: California Incident Date: Thursday, September 2, 2010
Officer John Zykas suffered a fatal heart attack while participating in a departmental training course while assigned to the Otay Mesa Port of Entry on Otay Mesa, California.
He was transported to a local hospital where he underwent major surgery. He remained hospitalized until passing away six days later.
Officer Zykas was a U.S. Navy veteran of 20 years and had served with the United States Customs and Border Protection - Office of Field Operations and the legacy United States Customs Service for 15 years.
Survivors
He is survived by his wife and two sons.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-FED-B316E0A7- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
I served 1985 to 1993. You served too, before the badge - different uniform, same idea. You go where you are sent and you do not get to pick the call.
Officer Zykas gave the United States Department of Homeland Security 15 years.
Thank you for your service. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, brother.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Military Service
John Richard Zykas served in the United States military before joining law enforcement. Full service record available on salute.nw.
Officer John Richard Zykas is one of 1,306 officers lost to cardiac events in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 4% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In DC, 71 of 1,419 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 5% of this state's fallen. That is 1 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.
At United States Department of Homeland Security - Customs and Border Protection - Office of Field Operations, 3 of 39 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 7.7% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. John Richard Zykas's cause is highlighted.
How John Richard Zykas Compares
When Cardiac Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. John Richard Zykas is highlighted in Sep.
Incident Location
Others Who Wore This Badge
38 officers from United States Department of Homeland Security - Customs and Border Protection - Office of Field Operations are honored on badge.nw. Showing the 16 most recent.
