Our hero, our son. SPC Luke Frist.

Thank you for the opportunity to share information with you concerning our son, SPC Luke Frist, who we lost Jan. 5, 2007. I have also attached two pictures of Luke, one which includes his two sisters.

Again thank you,

Dennis and Patti Frist

Luke Frist was born in Lafayette, IN on April 17, 1983. He was the youngest child of Dennis and Patti Frist and was welcomed home by two older sisters, Johanna and Erin.

When he was 5 years old his family moved to an old farmhouse in southwest White County. Luke attended Wolcott Elementary and graduated from Tri-County High School in 2001. He was a 10 year 4-H member, played the trombone and tuba in the Tri-County High School band, played on the football team and was a member of the track team. During his high school career, Luke was also active in the Lafayette Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol.

In his senior year of high school Luke joined the Lafayette, IN based 209th Quartermaster Company of the Army Reserves. He graduated from Tri-County High School in June of 2001. In August of 2001 he left for basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C. He finished basic training in October of 2001 and went on to Fort Lee, VA for his Advanced Individual Training to become a Fuel Specialist.

February of 2003 found Luke and his unit being called up for active duty. They went to Fort Knox, KY for training and remained there until April when they left for Kuwait. Then in mid-May the unit convoyed into Iraq where they carried out various missions.

On January 2, 2004, Luke’s fuel platoon was on a mission to deliver fuel when the fuel truck in which he was riding hit an improvised explosive device (IED)near Ar Ramadi. When the vehicle became disabled it was then hit with a rocket propelled grenade and small arms fire. Luke suffered third degree burns on 95% of his body. He was air lifted to Landstuhl, Germany and then on to San Antonio, TX where he died from his burns on January 5, 20