American Sniper Chris Kyle's Parents Open Up about Their Emotional Loss at CMA Music Fest: 'He'll Always Be Our Son'

Chris Kyle’s parents do not love the spotlight – it’s something they have in common with their son, the famed Navy SEAL who was murdered near his home in 2013.

“We are not celebrities and we don t want to be,” said Chris’s dad, Wayne, as he held tight to his wife’s hand on stage Saturday at the CMA Music Fest in Nashville, Tennessee, both of them fighting tears. “Most people don t know who we are and we prefer it that way.”

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The Kyles were there to meet artists and members of the country music industry who support the military and to personally thank Gibson Guitar for the donation of a Les Paul guitar to the Chris Kyle Memorial Benefit & Auction, which they founded in 2014 with their youngest son, Jeff.

Most importantly, the Kyles were on stage to bestow the first-ever Operation Troop Aid Chris Kyle Patriot Award to Kellie Pickler.

“I am rarely at a loss for words but I am tonight,” Pickler said in her acceptance. “I am so blessed to have done the USO tours, and so honored to receive this award tonight.”

For all of his own medals and citations, and the most confirmed sniper kills in U.S. military history, Chris’s parents say he “hated” his fame.

“Even though he accomplished so much, he was an incredibly humble young man,” Wayne told PEOPLE, as Deby nodded. “He hated the notoriety. When the book [2012 autobiography American Sniper] came out, he would go on speaking engagements because that was part of it and he knew it. But we d call him when he was out on the road and say, ‘Hey son, you did a great job.’ He’d say, ‘Oh you know I hate this, I’ll be so glad to get back home.’ ”

“We live way out in the country and a lot of times he’d come to see us and say, ‘I’m so glad to be here. I’m not answering my phone. I just want to relax and be quiet,’ ” Wayne continued. “He came there to get away from it all. But he did what he felt he needed to do to bring awareness for our troops.”

The Kyles live south of Fort Worth, Texas, and shun the public’s attention.

But when the founder of Operation Troop Aid, 21-year Navy veteran Mark Woods, contacted them and asked if his non-profit could honor their late son by renaming their annual award, the modest couple said yes – for the same reason Chris did.

“We have thousands of boots still on the ground,” Wayne. “People don t realize that. The key thing is to bring an awareness to our troops, they need our support, and that’s what Mark’s organization does.”

The OTA was founded in 2004 to support American troops abroad with care packages and correspondence from home.

The Kyles’ memorial benefit and auction does its part, too: This year’s event benefitted the Guardian for Heroes Foundation, which Chris founded in 2011 to promote physical fitness for veterans.

On stage Saturday at LP Field, the Kyles (who celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary that night) did not linger.

Just visible under the long sleeve of Wayne’s starched button-down shirt was a metal bracelet, similar to the POW/MIA bracelets of the Vietnam War, though this one is engraved with Chris’s date of birth and death. There are only six such bracelets – made by a Marine they had never met – and Deby, Jeff, and Jeff’s wife Amy also wear them.

“We’re just common people lucky enough to have raised two wonderful sons,” Wayne said. “Chris became famous, but he’s our son and he’ll always be our son. That part of Chris Kyle is ours and always will be.”

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