Columbus honored one of its own on Tuesday, October 20, unveiling a commemorative street sign for fallen Ohio Air National Guard airman Master Sergeant Tyler Simmons outside Eastmoor Academy High School, the Columbus City Schools campus he graduated from in 2015. City and school district leaders joined Simmons’ family at the intersection of Weyant and Plymouth avenues in the Eastmoor neighborhood to reveal the sign reading "Master Sergeant Tyler Simmons Way," before hundreds of supporters, former teachers and Eastmoor students.
Simmons, 28, a Columbus native raised in the Berwick community on the city’s East Side, was a boom operator with the Ohio Air National Guard’s 121st Air Refueling Wing, based at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base. He was among six service members killed in March when a KC-135 Stratotanker crashed in western Iraq during a mission in support of Operation Epic Fury. Three of the crew were members of the 121st, and Simmons was posthumously promoted to master sergeant from technical sergeant.
At Eastmoor, Simmons was quarterback for the football team and also ran track, and former educators at Tuesday’s ceremony remembered him as a natural leader whose energy lifted classmates. As a boom operator, he directed the transfer of fuel in mid-flight from the KC-135 tanker to other aircraft, a demanding aircrew role in the 166th Air Refueling Squadron that supports refueling, aeromedical, cargo and passenger missions around the world.
Mayor Andrew Ginther also presented the family with a proclamation declaring October 20 as Master Sergeant Tyler Simmons Day in Columbus. The street naming follows earlier honors this spring, when Columbus City Council and the Columbus City Schools board each recognized Simmons and his fellow fallen members of the 121st Air Refueling Wing at separate meetings, and his life was celebrated at a service at First Church of God on Refugee Road.
His father, Mylo Simmons, told the crowd the gathering was about more than loss. "We’re here today because he lived," he said. "And what an extraordinary life he lived." He called his son the greatest gift and joy he and his mother have ever had, described laughter that was contagious, love that was genuine and determination that knew no boundaries, and said he hoped Eastmoor students would draw inspiration from that legacy.
"Generations of people who may have never had the privilege of knowing our son will see his name, and perhaps they will pause," Mylo Simmons said. When people pass the sign, he said, the family hopes they will remember more than the name of a fallen American hero — they will remember a little boy who grew up in Columbus with big dreams.
For Eastmoor students who walk past Weyant and Plymouth each day, the sign turns an ordinary corner into a daily reminder of service close to home. City and school leaders said the honor is meant to endure long after Tuesday’s crowd disperses, keeping Simmons’ name in front of the neighborhood where he grew up and the school that helped shape him.