In 2004, Toby Keith boarded a military cargo plane in Baghdad after performing for American troops. What happened before takeoff would become one of the most personal stories Toby Keith ever told about his years entertaining service members overseas.
A flag-draped coffin was brought aboard the aircraft. Inside was 25-year-old Army First Lieutenant Erik Scott McCrae, a soldier from Oregon who had been killed in Iraq.
Toby Keith had never met Erik McCrae. Yet that unexpected flight would eventually bring Toby Keith into the lives of the young officer’s family, creating a friendship that continued for years.
An Unexpected Change of Plans in Baghdad
Toby Keith was in Iraq as part of a USO tour, bringing live country music to American troops far from home. The performances were only part of the experience. Between shows, Toby Keith spent time talking with service members, sharing meals and learning about their daily lives.
On the day Toby Keith was scheduled to leave Baghdad, the travel arrangements suddenly changed.
As Toby Keith later explained in a 2017 interview with Military Times, a group of visiting senators had taken the aircraft originally assigned to the traveling party. Toby Keith and the others had to wait for another flight to Kuwait.
When the replacement C-130 arrived, the passengers were asked to stand outside in formation.
Military personnel then brought a coffin covered with the American flag onto the aircraft.
The coffin was secured in the center of the cargo compartment. Toby Keith and the other passengers sat in folding seats along the sides, facing one another across the aircraft.
For the flight to Kuwait, the coffin remained directly between them.
In later interviews, Toby Keith remembered the quiet atmosphere aboard the plane. The passengers sat with their heads lowered, aware that they were accompanying someone on the journey home.
Who Was First Lieutenant Erik McCrae?
Erik Scott McCrae was much more than the name Toby Keith learned during that flight.
Born in Oregon, Erik McCrae graduated from Tigard High School and Linfield College. Erik McCrae worked as a mechanical engineer and served as a reserve sheriff’s deputy before deployment.
Erik McCrae was also a member of the Oregon Army National Guard, assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry.
On February 27, 2004, Erik McCrae married Heather Smyth at Fort Polk, Louisiana. The wedding took place shortly before deployment to Iraq.
In conversations with family, Erik McCrae spoke about meeting Iraqi children, learning about local culture and seeing the country’s buildings and mosques.
On June 4, 2004, Erik McCrae was killed in Baghdad after an attack involving explosives and rocket-propelled grenades. Erik McCrae was just 25 years old.
For Erik McCrae’s family, the loss was devastating. For Toby Keith, the flight out of Baghdad became a memory that would remain deeply personal.
The Family That Came to See Toby Keith
Some time after that flight, members of Erik McCrae’s family attended one of Toby Keith’s concerts in Oregon.
The family wanted to meet the country singer who had accompanied their loved one on part of the journey home.
In a later interview with Penthouse, Toby Keith recalled meeting Erik McCrae’s father, mother, sister and grandmothers. The family spoke about what it meant to know someone had traveled with Erik McCrae.
Toby Keith did not describe the experience as some great personal achievement.
“I was just lucky enough to ride with him.”
That was how Toby Keith remembered the moment.
The meeting did not become a single encounter that faded with time. Toby Keith developed a lasting relationship with the McCrae family.
In 2017, more than a decade after the flight, Toby Keith told Military Times that Toby Keith still saw the family whenever Toby Keith visited Oregon.
A Friendship That Outlasted the Tour
Toby Keith spent 11 years making USO tours, often traveling to dangerous and remote locations where American service members rarely received entertainment from home.
Those journeys produced countless memories, but Toby Keith repeatedly returned to the story of Erik McCrae when asked about meaningful experiences overseas.
Toby Keith died on February 5, 2024, at the age of 62. The songs, concerts and military performances remain part of Toby Keith’s legacy.
But the story of Erik McCrae reveals something that cannot be measured by record sales or concert attendance.
In 2004, Toby Keith happened to board a different aircraft after an unexpected delay. On that plane was a young soldier making the journey home for the last time.
Years afterward, whenever Toby Keith returned to Oregon, there was still a family Toby Keith made time to see.