Kurt Muse

Kurt Muse was born in the United States into a family of citizen soldiers whose roots go back to the Revolutionary War. His adventurous family lived first in Cuba and eventually settled in Panama where they began a printing and graphic arts business. Kurt married his high school sweetheart and came back to the U.S for college. After graduation, Kurt Muse took his ROTC commission for a short stint in the Army. Obligations fulfilled, he returned to Panama to help grow his family's business and start a family of his own.

Being an American citizen, Kurt studiously avoided politics... until 1987. Noriega burned down one of his print shops and killed one of his good friends. Panama was the only home Kurt knew, and it was being threatened by a ruthless machete-waving dictator.

Vowing to restore free speech, Kurt Muse and his friends built an underground radio station, The Voice of Liberty. They were on the air for nearly a year. Panama's alleyways were scenes of constant and deadly games of cat and mouse with Noriega's soldiers. Driven to the edge, Noriega imported Castro's top direction-finding teams to track down that country's only free radio station.

After his capture, Kurt Muse endured days of sleepless interrogation. He spent nine months in solitary confinement in Noriega's infamous Modelo Prison. A soldier was posted at Kurt's cell door with orders to execute him if anyone tried to rescue him.

At 12:45 am on December 20th, 1989, elite Delta Force commandos stormed the prison in what was to be the most dramatic rescue in recent military history. America's finest and bravest warriors fought their way down to Kurt and stole him back to the roof to an awaiting helicopter. It was shot down twice.

President George Bush called Kurt Muse "a great American".