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At 101, WWII veteran Irving Locker has
become a songwriter
[November 10, 2025]
By GLENN GAMBOA
NASHVILLE
(AP) — In a life filled with milestones, Irving Locker celebrated a new,
unexpected one last week: He became a published songwriter.
One day before his 101st birthday, “If Freedom Was Free” was released by
Big Machine Label Group and CreatiVets, the Nashville-based nonprofit
that helps veterans work through their traumas by building something new
through the arts. |
Irving Locker, a 101-year-old veteran of World War II, D-Day and the
Battle of the Bulge, listens as Jesse Wayne Taylor, left, records a song
based on Locker's military experience on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in
Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) |
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CreatiVets teamed Locker, a World War II veteran who landed at
Utah Beach on D-Day, with Texas singer-songwriter Bart Crow and
duo Johnny and Heidi Bulford, who also sing on the track. The
chorus – “If freedom was free, there wouldn’t be a mountain of
metal and men under Normandy” – includes the message Locker has
used in lectures from classrooms to the White House. Freedom, he
says, is not free. People should be thankful for it and for
those who make it possible.
“I have to talk about things like that,” he says. “I got nothing
to gain. But people have to know and appreciate the fact that
they’re living because of men who died. It comes from the heart,
not the lips.”
Locker, who now lives in The Villages, Florida, said the chance
to write a song was an “unbelievable” thrill, one that he never
dreamed possible. It means even more to him because music is
such an important part of his life.
He said he and his wife of 77 years, Bernice, still go out
dancing often – still doing the jitterbug and the cha-cha as
they have for decades.
“You should see me on the floor even now,” said Locker, adding
that he knows how lucky he is to be alive and active when so
many other veterans are not.
“To be very honest with you, I was never conscious of God until
the war,” he said. “But I came so close to dying that I learned
how to thank God and use the simple phrase ‘But for the grace of
God go I.’”
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