A Debt to the Dead

Last fall, Chris Kolenda set out on his Fallen Hero Honor Ride, covering 1,700 miles on his bicycle to visit the gravesites of the six paratroopers who died under his command in combat in Afghanistan: Jacob Lowell, Chris Pfeifer, Ryan Fritsche, Adrian Hike, David Boris, and Tom Bostick. At the gravesites, Kolenda, a member of the Rotary Club of Milwaukee, met with the men's family and friends to salute them and celebrate everything their lives embodied. This audio version of a story by Bryan Smith in the March 2023 issue of Rotary magazine⁠ is narrated by Scott Thomas.