In a video uploaded to YouTube this week, Dwayne O’Brien of Little Texas talks about the inspiration for the song “Slow Ride Home.”

As the country band neared Hays, American flags greeted them at every turn — they were just ahead of the funeral procession for fallen soldier Bryan Nichols.

Nichols, a 1998 graduate of Thomas More Prep-Marian, was killed in 2011 in a helicopter accident in Afghanistan.

KZ Country’s Theresa Trapp had a chance to talk to Del Gray of Little Texas last year about “Slow Ride Home” before the band’s appearance at the Graham County Fair. Click below to hear the interview.

Click the video below, which features scenes of Nichols and Hays throughout, to hear the tale and song from Little Texas.