Ten Beautiful Country Songs That Honor Our Fallen Soldiers

Years ago, Toby Keith sat down with Larry King and explained that 'American Soldier' is, "Written for all the times that I get to meet the troops on these USO tours...this is my support for the American fighting men and women."

Billy Ray wrote this song after a sit down with a Vietnam vet. The song was on Billy Ray's debut album which came out in 1992 but it didn't grow in popularity until Billy Ray re-recorded it in 2011 with Jamey Johnson, a Marine veteran, Craig Morgan, an Army veteran, and Darryl Worley.

To say that 'Travelin Soldier' was a massive hit for the Dixie Chicks would be an understatement. However, the song was actually written and recorded by a singer named Bruce Robison in 1996. Bruce told SongFacts, "I was...getting called up in the reserves for the first Iraq War... I set the song in Vietnam, but those were the things that I was thinking about...Those were the thoughts going through my head."

'Just A Dream' is a haunting song of a bride who is struggling to come to grips with the fact that her husband, a soldier, is never coming back to her.
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'For You' was written and performed by Keith for the end credits of the movie Act Of Valor and according to SongFacts, Keith donated every penny he made off his artist and publishing royalties to the Navy SEAL Foundation.

'Riding With Private Malone' tells the story of a man who buys a vehicle and discovers a letter in the car from Private Malone which states that if the letter is found it means he didn't make it home.

'8th of November' tells the story of Niles Harris, a soldier in the United States Army during Operation Hump in South Vietnam on November 8, 1965, and includes some haunting lyrics such as, "On the eighth of November the angels were crying as they carried his brothers away with the fire raining down and the hell all around. There were few men left standing that day."

The inspiration for this beautiful song came from the real-life story of Jared C. Monti, a member of the United States Army who was killed on June 21, 2006, in Afghanistan. Jared’s father, Paul Monti was giving an interview and said that he would drive his son’s truck to remind him of his boy. "It's got his DNA all over it," Monti said. Connie Harrigan, one of the writers of this song heard Paul’s interview and that became the inspiration for the song.

‘Arlington’ is based on the real-life story of Patrick Nixon, a member of the United States Marine Corps who was killed in action in 2003.

In this song, James Otto sings, "There's only two people who've ever died for me, laid down their lives just so I could be free...God only knows where we'd be without soldiers and Jesus."