Minnesota veteran hits the road on his motorcycle to honor fallen soldiers
One man is riding his motorcycle tens of thousands of miles across the country. He's on a mission to make sure America's fallen heroes and the families they've left behind are never forgotten.
Minnesota veteran Anthony Price has spent nearly eight years organizing and leading motorcycle rides across all of the lower 48 states to visit Gold Star families, those whose loved ones never made it home. What started with small rides in Minnesota soon turned into something bigger as he suggested they go national.
"They burst into laughter and said it'll never happen," Price recalled.
Seventy rides later, he's still proving them wrong.
Each trip takes planning: families reach out, Price maps routes and then calls local veterans groups. Along the way, other riders join in.
When they arrive, Price says there are tears and laughter.
"We have all the good stuff that goes with it, we're there for 2.5 hours and then we hug our goodbyes and I get on my motorcycle and I'm driving down the road to the next family," Price says.
What happens in those hours can linger after Price leaves. He described an email he got after visiting with eight families, where a woman said she went home afterward and tore up her own suicide note.
For Price, that's all the confirmation he needs. Because for the families he visits, the loss never leaves.
"The biggest thing that we're trying to do is to make sure that the fallen hero is remembered," Price said.
The Gold Star Ride Foundation will host a celebrity golf outing on June 29 at Dellwood Country Club on the edge of White Bear Lake.