Lee Brice was on hand to pay tribute to U.S. Air Force Maj. Troy Lee Gilbert on Dec. 19 at Arlington National Cemetery. The singer performed Vince Gill's “Go Rest High on That Mountain” during a private chapel service held in the Old Post Chapel on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in honor of the late soldier.

Gilbert was laid to rest 10 years after his F-16 crashed while he protected U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor. Time magazine reports that it took 10 years for his remains to return home because his body was stolen by al Qaeda fighters. Bits of his remains have come home over the years before being fully returned, and he is the first soldier ever to be buried at Arlington on three different occasions. With his return, there are no more American soldiers still missing in action from Iraq or Afghanistan.

“Singing at Troy’s funeral was a moment I’ll never forget,” Brice says in a press release. “I’m grateful for Troy’s sacrifice and I admire [his wife] Ginger and her family for their sacrifice, also. I can’t imagine what they went through and I’m honored to have been a part of this special moment with this incredibly strong family.”

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Brice first connected with the late soldier's wife, Ginger Gilbert Ravella, in 2015 when she shared how much his song "I Drive Your Truck" meant to her family.

“I told him how much we, as fallen families, cling to pieces left of those we love,” she says. “Troy sold his old beloved truck for a new one about a month before he found out he was deploying. Things were starting to break on his old one, and he needed a reliable ride. Just a week before he took off for Iraq, he said, ‘I think we need to sell my new truck. We really can’t afford to make payments while I am gone.’ So we sold it and he left. Years later when Lee’s song came out, it wasn’t the new truck I wished we still had. It was the old one; the one that belonged to Troy’s Dad first, the one Troy drove for years, the one I knew [my sons] Boston and Greyson would get a kick out of.”

In April of 2016, Brice, his management team and several friends of the Ravella family searched for the 1992 Chevy Silverado 1500 that formerly belonged to Troy. Brice found the truck, bought it and gifted it to the family.

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