Joseph A. Martyna

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission — Tallahassee, FL

Cardiac

End of Watch November 16, 2008

Age 54

Tour of Duty 31 yrs

The Vigil Panel 157 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 6

Incident

Lieutenant Joseph Martyna suffered a fatal heart attack a short time after being involved in an intense search and rescue mission for a missing hunter in the Everglades.

He had been piloting his agency's Bell 206L4 helicopter while searching for the hunter in Collier County. He collapsed a short time after returning home following the search.

Lieutenant Martyna had served with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for 31 years.

Survivors

He is survived by his wife.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-FL-5AE61E89
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

31 years. You could have gone home.
Lieutenant Martyna gave the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 31 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Lieutenant Martyna.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Location Tallahassee, FL

Platform Identity florcons.leon.fl.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch November 16, 2008

Tour of Duty 31 yrs

Age 54

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Cardiac

Lieutenant Joseph A. Martyna 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 FL, 62 of 1,008 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 6.2% of this state's fallen. That is 2.2 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.

At Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 1 of 7 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 14.3% of this agency's fallen.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

of 7 officers

14.3% Cardiac

FL — Statewide

of 1,008 officers

6.2% Cardiac

Nationwide

1,306

of 32,508 officers

4% Cardiac