At 101, WWII veteran Irving Locker has become a songwriter

NASHVILLE In a life filled with milestones Irving Locker celebrated a new unexpected one last week He became a published songwriter One day before his st birthday If Freedom Was Free was disclosed 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 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 attainable 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 explained the chance to write a song was an unbelievable thrill one that he never dreamed viable It means even more to him because music is such an major part of his life He mentioned he and his wife of 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 declared Locker adding that he knows how lucky he is to be alive and functioning when so various other veterans are not To be very honest with you I was never conscious of God until the war he commented 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 '