PFC Christopher A. Horns Memorial Highway Dedication [VIDEOS]

Some good friends and I spent Sunday, July 5, doing one of the most honorable things we could think of by taking a ride down to Westcliffe, Colorado to honor a fallen soldier.

If you ride a motorcycle, you couldn't have asked for a nicer day to ride than this past Sunday, July 5. However, it was even better due to the fact that dear friends Jay and Beth Tamlin, Kenny and Nancy Oldson and I, were on a mission for a day long road trip down to Westcliffe, Colorado for a very special event.

Pvt. 1st Class Christopher Alexander Horns, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, was Killed In Action on 22 October 2011 during combat operations in Afghanistan when he stepped on an IED; he  was 20 years young! PFC Horns was a Ranger automatic rifleman assigned to Co. C, 2nd Bn., 75th Ranger Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. He was on his first deployment to Afghanistan.

This past Sunday, we all rode down to Highway 96, just outside of Westcliffe, Colorado at mile marker 8, to honor this local hero as the State officially marked this section of the highway as the Christopher A Horns Memorial Highway.

What follows are segments of the ceremony including footage of the Rangers Creed, which gave me goosebumps, words from his Father and the official reading of the proclamation.

Pvt. 1st Class Christopher Alexander Horns was also posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Medal for Combat Service, the Army Commendation Medal for Peacetime Service, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal and the Combat Infantry Badge, Other awards and decorations include the Parachutist Badge, the U.S. Army Expert Rifle Marksmanship Qualification Badge. Horns was also awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Army Service Ribbon.