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WATCH: U.S. Army Chorus Performs “Battle Hymn Of The Republic” During Toby Keith’s “American Soldier” In Emotional Tribute During Army’s 250th Birthday Celebration
“I’m out here on the front lines, so sleep in peace tonight.”
Yesterday marked the 250th birthday of the United States Army, the oldest branch of the greatest military in the history of the world and one that predates the very founding of the United States.
The Continental Army was founded on June 14, 1775 to fight against the British during the American Revolution, and after winning the war, was replaced with what’s now known as the United States Army on June 3, 1784.
Since then, the Army has won two World Wars, drove Iraqi forces from Kuwait during Desert Storm to help end the Cold War, and led the fight in the global war on terror, capturing Saddam Hussein and overthrowing the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Through it all have been the brave men and women who put on the uniform every day to protect our freedom and keep us safe here at home, offering up their own lives to protect ours.
For the Army’s 250th birthday yesterday, President Donald Trump held a massive military parade in Washington D.C., which ended in a fireworks ceremony honoring all those who have served in the Army throughout the years. And when it came time to honor the unknown soldiers who have lost their lives in battle, Toby Keith’s “American Soldier” was, appropriately, the song of choice to pay tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
As the country legend’s song served as the soundtrack for the fireworks, the U.S. Army Chorus took the stage to perform the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” serving up an emotional tribute not only to the Army but to all of their fallen brothers and sisters.
The most emotional part of the evening. They honored the late Toby Keith while honoring the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. #America250
What an amazing tribute to our troops pic.twitter.com/Wd2tqlNxSM
— Mandi (@MrsMayhem13) June 15, 2025
Of course Toby was a strong supporter of the military, and often performed overseas for our troops during the war on terror. He went on 18 USO tours during his career, performing for over 250,000 active duty service members. And during one of his final interviews, he recalled his helicopter coming under fire during one of those trips:
“We came out of Mosul east and we were headed to Mosul west, and there are probably 3 million people there I think. So we were going to play the east side, then fly to the west side.
And we were flying sideways, and I’m looking (at the captain) like ‘Why the h-ll are we flying sideways?’ He had the headset on, I didn’t, so then we straighten back up, and he held his finger up and said ‘I’ll tell you when we get there.’”
Clearly Keith knew that something was wrong. You don’t just start flying sideways in a helicopter for the fun of it.
However, he trusted the service members he was with, and once they got to their destination, the captain told Keith what had happened, and the late great country star had the perfect response:
“He said we had come under small arms fire as we were leaving and I was like ‘Would have been nice to give a cowboy a shotgun or something.’ It was…they’re going to take care of you when you go over there. You’re in the best hands.
First two or three years, I didn’t go down range. I just played the Big Green zones and everybody can do that…but as the years progressed and I started to trust them, they’re like ‘You want to go down range?’ And I was like ‘H-ll yeah, let’s go.’”
And a veteran in attendance during one of those shows once recalled Toby’s reaction when indirect fire began coming into the base during a performance:
“The alarm came on “Incoming, incoming, incoming…” Everyone got down.
A few explosions could be heard in the distance; they probably just hit the airfield.
Then Toby Keith came back on stage and said….
“HEY AL QAEDA, YOUUUUUU MISSED!””
Toby Keith story time.
This is the only story I have because I only met him once.
Back in 2010, Toby was on the USO tour in Iraq. (He went on 11 of them.)
During his set, indirect fire was coming into the base. It was probably just 107mm rockets or mortars.
The alarm came…
— Steve (@SteveLovesAmmo) February 6, 2024
What a legend. God bless Toby Keith, and God bless the United States Army.The post WATCH: U.S. Army Chorus Performs “Battle Hymn Of The Republic” During Toby Keith’s “American Soldier” In Emotional Tribute During Army’s 250th Birthday Celebration first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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