Milford man lost at sea in Gloucester fishing boat incident
Former Milford resident Staff Sergeant Freeman Short was a member of the U.S. National Guard and a crewmember on the Lily Jean, a fishing vessel lost at sea in January. Source Facebook @MENationalGuard
Select Board recognizes National Guard veteran who was aboard the Lily Jean
By Nick Schofield
At the start of its meeting on Feb. 26, the Milford Select Board held a moment of silence for Staff Sergeant Freeman Short, one of the crew members of the lost fishing vessel Lily Jean.
SSG Short was posthumously promoted to the rank of staff sergeant.
“He was a veteran who was residing in Milford shortly before his death,” said Select Board Chair Thomas O’Loughlin.
The Gloucester-based fishing vessel Lily Jean was lost at sea in January.
On the morning of Jan. 30, the U.S. Coast Guard responded to an emergency beacon activation from the 72-foot boat, which was approximately 25 miles off the coast of Cape Ann. The ship had seven crew members aboard, including SSG Short, according to a Coast Guard press release (news.uscg.mil).
On Jan. 31, the Coast Guard suspended its search for the Lily Jean after finding a debris field near the beacon’s activation point, the body of one of the crew members, and the vessel’s life raft. No additional crew were recovered.
A Feb. 18 report from WCVB-5 said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had made further attempts to locate the remains of the boat. In addition, federal investigators were looking into the incident, citing freezing spray and high seas as factors that may have contributed to the ship’s sinking.
In a letter to the Select Board, Milford Director of Veterans Services, John Pilla, said that 31-year-old SSG Short had lived in town since July 2025.
A Marshfield native who attended the University of Maine, Short joined the Maine Army National Guard in December 2012, going on to specialize in mountaineering training. He deployed to the Horn of Africa in 2021, and spent time in Djibouti and Somalia. In a Facebook post, the Maine National Guard (@MENationalGuard) characterized SSG Short as a “dedicated Infantryman with Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Company (Mountain).”
According to a Portland Press Herald (https://press.herald.com) report, SSG Short was a fourth-generation fisherman. A GoFundMe (https://bit.ly/GoFundMe_FreemanShort) has been set up to support the family.
