This year, Memorial Day carried a different weight for Mylo Simmons.
It’s his first since losing his son, Tyler – and he and his family are honoring the holiday while, as he put it, “learning to live a new normal.”
“It gives a whole new meaning to Memorial Day,” he said.
Columbus native and Master Sgt. Tyler Simmons, 28, was one of six airmen killed during a refueling crash in Iraq on March 12. His family, along with roughly 200 city leaders, service members, loved ones, and residents, gathered at the Linden War Memorial in Linden Park on Memorial Day afternoon May 25 to honor him and his service.
The event marked Columbus City Council and the Department of Neighborhoods’ second-annual Memorial Day Ceremony in Linden – a tradition that was relaunched last year after the war memorial monument was refurbished and relocated to Linden Park in November 2024, according to Councilmember Nancy Day-Achauer.
“It is a source of pride both for the Linden community and the city of Columbus,” Day-Achauer, also chair of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said at the ceremony. “We had hoped to never have to add a name to the war memorial, but tragically, that is not the case.”
Simmons grew up in the Berwick community on Columbus’ East Side. In 2015, he graduated from Columbus City Schools’ Eastmoor Academy High School, where he was a quarterback and ran track.
After enlisting in 2017, Simmons served as a boom operator and a member of the 166th Air Refueling Squadron, 121st Air Refueling Wing, at the Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base.
Ohio Department of Veterans Services Director and retired Maj. Gen. John Harris recalled meeting Simmons early in his career, and he painted the picture of a young man “just oozing charisma.”
With his “Hollywood smile” and “dimples,” Simmons was promoted to leadership positions faster than anyone Harris had ever seen, he said.
“He was just full of life, full of joy, full of charisma, full of [a] sense of humor, but he always had a professional edge,” Harris said at the ceremony. “I was awfully proud to know him.”
Simmons was posthumously promoted from tech sergeant to master sergeant and buried at Union Cemetery on Olentangy River Road.
Two other Ohioans, Capt. Seth Koval, 38, of Stoutsville, and Capt. Curtis Angst, 30, of Wilmington, died along with Simmons when their tanker airplane crashed in western Iraq while in support of Operation Epic Fury in Iran.
“It’s said that a veteran, particularly those who’ve fallen in the line of duty, will die two deaths,” Harris said to eventgoers. “The first death is when their last breath leaves their body, and the second death is when their name is spoken for the last time and they’re forgotten forever.
“Let’s ensure that Tyler never dies that second death.”
Reporter Emma Wozniak can be reached at ewozniak@dispatch.com or @emma_wozniak_ on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus dedicates Memorial Day Ceremony to fallen airman Tyler Simmons
Reporting by Emma Wozniak, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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