Two Presidents Encourage Afghanistan Veteran to Propose to Girlfriend

— -- An Army veteran was planning to propose to his girlfriend, but he wasn't planning to do it in front of two former presidents.

Specialist Tyler Jeffries was invited Monday along with a group of veterans and their mothers, whose stories are featured in the book "Unbreakable Bonds: The Mighty Moms and Wounded Warriors of Walter Reed," to the Bush family’s summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Jeffries, 26, had mentioned to the Bushes and the group that he was planning on asking his girlfriend, Lauren Lilly, 24, to marry him and that Lilly was in town. The group agreed, "Get her here now," Jeffries recalled in an interview with ABC News today.

"I wasn't expecting to do it. ... I was getting pretty nervous," said Jeffries, who pointed out that not everybody has two presidents, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and two former first ladies, Barbara Bush and Laura Bush, there when they pop the question.

Lilly told ABC News she had her phone on vibrate and missed the first few calls. Jeffries' excuse of getting Lilly to come to the Bushes' home without ruining the surprise was that they're taking pictures.

Jeffries, who's from Florida, served in Afghanistan for seven months before he was injured in an explosion on Oct. 6, 2012, losing both his legs. Jeffries met Lilly in North Carolina, where Jeffries moved to after finishing rehabilitation.

The couple’s special moment was captured and shared on the Facebook page "Supporting Tyler Jeffries.” In the video, Jeffries is shown getting down on one knee with help from some friends and asking Lilly to marry him with the two former presidents and two former first ladies smiling in the background.

The couple said they appreciated the Bushes hosting them. "They treated us all like family," Jeffries said, noting they have yet to set a wedding date.

Bush 41 tweeted on Monday his congratulations to the happy couple.