{"id":908404,"date":"2026-07-02T21:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T21:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/908404\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T21:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T21:52:18","slug":"lee-greenwood-recalls-coming-under-fire-while-on-panama-uso-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/908404\/","title":{"rendered":"Lee Greenwood recalls coming under fire while on Panama USO mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lee Greenwood recalls Panama mission for President George H W Bush<\/a> <\/p>\n

Country music icon Lee Greenwood details his extraordinary experience traveling to Panama on a mission for the late President George H. W. Bush. Appearing on Sean Hannity’s podcast with his wife Kimberly, Greenwood shares the harrowing story of facing gunfire on his way to entertain U.S. troops. The ‘God Bless the USA’ singer also reflects on the song’s profound impact and his work for wounded veterans.<\/p>\n

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Country singer Lee Greenwood recalled being sent to Panama by then-President George H.W. Bush to entertain U.S. troops during the mission against Manuel Noriega, revealing he came under fire before reaching Marines in the jungle.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m going to send you to Panama,” Greenwood recalled Bush telling him on the “Hang Out With Sean Hannity”<\/a> podcast. “Take your band down there. I\u2019ve already taken out the dependents. We\u2019re going to take [Noriega] out… I want you to entertain our troops.”<\/p>\n

The “God Bless the USA” singer said his band left first by Chinook helicopter, while a courier handed him a letter from Bush for Marines stationed in the jungle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AARON TIPPIN SAYS PATRIOTISM IS ‘VERY STRONG IN AMERICA’ AHEAD OF FORT CAMPBELL 4TH OF JULY SHOW<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Lee <\/p>\n

Lee Greenwood said President George H.W. Bush sent him to Panama to entertain U.S. troops before the mission to remove Manuel Noriega. (Mandel NGAN \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“And a courier had given me a letter from the president to 200 Marines in the jungle,” Greenwood said. “So, the band\u2019s gone. I jump in a jeep with a sergeant and we… come under fire and the bullets are whizzing through the jeep.”<\/p>\n

Greenwood said he was not hit, but the sergeant driving the jeep was wounded.<\/p>\n

“[It] took my driver\u2019s finger off right there in the index finger,” Greenwood said. “So fortunately, I didn\u2019t get hit. We got to the compound where the Marines were, and I showed them where we were, and they went out, and they took out these guys.”<\/p>\n

Operation Just Cause began in December 1989 when nearly 26,000 combat troops were deployed in a mission the U.S. Army says was aimed at neutralizing Noriega’s forces, restoring elected democratic government and protecting American lives.<\/p>\n

\"Lee <\/p>\n

Greenwood said he later reunited with the wounded sergeant who drove him through the Panama mission, saying they hugged over the moment they “could have both been killed.” (Chip Somodevilla\/Pool Photo via AP)<\/p>\n

Greenwood said the Panama mission came back to him years later when the same driver showed up backstage after a concert in Ohio.<\/p>\n

“I said, \u2018Is he missing a finger?\u2019” Greenwood said. “He said, \u2018Yes.\u2019 I came out, and we hugged each other, you know, for the moment that we could have both been killed.”<\/p>\n

AMERICA\u2019S NEXT 250 YEARS DEPEND ON PASSING FAITH AND FREEDOM TO OUR CHILDREN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

He said the episode was one of many military visits<\/a> that shaped his career.<\/p>\n

“I remember it was 140 degrees in the jungle … and addressing 150 Marines that are about to go to war,” Greenwood said. “It\u2019s been like that all over my career whenever I visit military, and that makes me a very proud patriot.”<\/p>\n

The interview focused on Greenwood, his wife, Kimberly, and the 40-year-old legacy of “God Bless the USA” ahead of America’s 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n

Kimberly Greenwood said their relationship began through USO tours and service members<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Really, our beginning of our relationship started with patriotism and serving our military,” she said. “And that\u2019s what we\u2019ve done for our entire time together.”<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Greenwood said “God Bless the USA” was written out of love for the country and respect for those who died serving it.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m so proud to know that I wrote it because I love the country,” he said. “I didn\u2019t write it for any other purpose.”<\/p>\n

The full interview is available now on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.<\/p>\n

CJ Womack is an associate editor at Fox News.<\/p>\n

CJ joined Fox News Digital’s team in 2026, which highlights the vital role journalism plays in shaping politics and culture. He has years of experience analyzing and reporting on the news media.<\/p>\n

CJ graduated from Long Beach State University in 2025 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a minor in Journalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can send news tips to cj.womack@fox.com and follow CJ on Twitter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lee Greenwood recalls Panama mission for President George H W Bush Country music icon Lee Greenwood details his…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":908405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[185,9958,171,84645,357741,1802,355633,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-908404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-country","tag-entertainment","tag-fn-flash","tag-hangout-with-hannity-podcast","tag-military","tag-proud-american","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}