Jedburgh Sacrifice

Teaching About the Second World War With the Stories of the Fallen

Lewis Frelan Goddard grew up in rural Tennessee during the Great Depression. A natural leader, the charismatic boy was a nature lover and avid bird watcher.

He put aside a promising future in 1943 to graduate early and join the Army. Frelan was recruited for the Top Secret Operation Jedburgh mission and made the ultimate sacrifice for the allied cause against the Nazis in World War Two. His family kept a scrapbook of his life and his brother traveled to France in the 70s to retrace Frelan’s footsteps and learn the details of his death.

Some 70 years after his death, Frelan’s brother shared this riveting and surprising story with the students of Maranacook Community High School, not far from his adopted home in Maine. Frelan’s story inspired and captivated these students to honor his memory in an attempt to understand sacrifice during the Second World War.

Why did Frelan make this sacrifice? Why did the French Resistance honor his sacrifice? Why were the details of Frelan’s death unknown to his family for so long?