On September 1, 1983, Korean Air Lines flight 007, took off from Anchorage, Alaska enroute to Seoul, South Korea. The flight originated in New York City and made a refueling stop in Anchorage. The Boeing 747 had a crew of 23 and was carrying 246 passengers, 62 of which were American citizens and the rest representing 15 other nationalities. By the time KAL 007 had completed 3/4 of this leg from Anchorage to Seoul, it had inadvertently drifted 200 miles off its planned route, which caused it to fly into restricted Soviet airspace. The Soviets scrambled two interceptor jets and by a series of mistaken assumptions concluded KAL 007 was a U.S. spy plane. The pilot of one of the Soviet jets then launched two air-to-air missiles causing KAL 007 to crash in the Sea of Japan, killing all 269 aboard.
As a consequence of hearing about the downing of KAL 007, the country music singer/songwriter Lee Greenwood was moved to write the song, "God Bless The USA". In speaking about the song, Greenwood said: “I called my producer, and I said I have a need to do this. I've always wanted to write a song about America, and I said we just need to be more united." And as he reflected on being proud to be an American, the song essentially wrote itself. Since its release in May of 1984, "God Bless The USA" has for many become the patriotic equivalent of "God Bless America" for their generation.
As a consequence of the downing of KAL 007, President Ronald Reagan issued a directive making the American satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS), once it was sufficiently developed, to be freely available for civilian use.
Proud To Be An American!