22-05-2025
31-mile Memorial Day run to honor Tyler Trahan, Freetown Navy SEAL killed in Iraq
On Memorial Day, Jackie Francisco will run 31 miles solo from Bourne to Freetown to honor Tyler Trahan, 22, who lost his life April 30, 2009, while conducting combat operations serving in Iraq in the U.S. Navy in support of operation Iraqi Freedom.
Francisco, the principal at Freetown Lakeville Middle School since last September and former Fall River K through 12 director of fine arts, lives in Freetown, the same town where Trahan attended middle school. As a runner she often runs by the Tyler J. Trahan Memorial Rotary in East Freetown and thinks of him and his sacrifice.
He died two days short of his 23rd birthday.
"I've been very aware of the community and would run by the rotary every time and think of Tyler because the rotary is dedicated to him, and he had lived right down the street from my house," she said. "I've run by his street hundreds of times and there's a connection that brought back memories of him and his sacrifice."
To honor his sacrifice, Francisco met with his mother, Maureen Trahan, over the winter to plan an event that would help students in town raise awareness about a local hero who lost his life in support and protection of their freedom as Americans.
They talked for hours and ultimately Francisco suggested that she run 31 miles, the equivalent of a 50K, from his memorial circle in Freetown on Memorial Day, Sunday, May 25.
The Tyler J. Trahan Memorial Rotary, located at the intersection of County, Chace and Mason roads, was dedicated in his honor in 2013.
Petty Officer Second Class Tyler J. Trahan, a 2004 graduate of Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School, was an explosive ordnance disposal technician with a Navy Seals team that had deployed to Iraq.
He enlisted in the Navy in 2006 after attending the Massachusetts Maritime Academy for one year.
Trahan, a Freetown native, was killed in 2009 by a roadside bomb in Iraq's Al Anbar Province, his father, Jean Pierre Trahan, told the Standard Times at the time of his death.
Francisco will run solo from his gravesite in the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne starting at 6 a.m. Sunday, May 25, to Tyler's Circle in his memory and to honor his sacrifice. A flag holding ceremony will be held at the rotary at noon when the run is complete.
The Trahan family will also be there.
Francisco's husband, John Nelson, will be her chief navigator and support crew along the 31-mile route from Bourne to Freetown, a role he regularly takes on while she runs.
She said he too, is honored to participate as someone who is 100% behind America's veterans.
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She said the Freetown Police Department and Freetown Fire Department will also show their respect for Trahan, some out there along the route. They have also expressed their gratitude to her for taking the time to honor his memory.
"It will be a time to bring him home, so to speak," she said.
She wants her students to understand there are many different ways to honor veterans such as tidying up the cemetery or helping out at veterans' events, putting flags out in their yard or helping raise and lower the flag at their school.
Francisco said she wants to let students know there are many ways to show respect as Americans.
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Some students will be at Tyler's Circle holding American flags, and some will help with a beautification project honoring those who lost their lives in war, and other students will work on planting flowers around American flags next week.
She said it's an honor for the eight-grade students who have worked on civics projects in class, members of the cross country team and other eighth graders to stand up and hold the flags.
Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at kgallerani@ Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Freetown Principal Jackie Francisco Memorial Day run honors Tyler Trahan
