Today, I salute 101-year-old World War II Veteran Irv Locker. A few nights ago, as part of their efforts to raise awareness for Veteran suicide, the Grand Ole Opry was joined by Irv. Irv remembers vividly the Battle of the Bulge. He and his fellow soldiers – who had come ashore at Utah Beach on June 6, 1944, in the D-Day invasion – had to dig foxholes through snow and ice to survive the Battle of the Bulge the following winter. They fired 90mm anti-aircraft, anti-tank guns at the Germans in Hitler’s last desperate effort to avert inevitable defeat in the European Theater of World War II.
Locker’s unit was among the Allied soldiers who liberated Nazi death camps. Discovery of the Holocaust, the Jewish veteran explained to the magazine, was extremely emotional. “Anybody who says the Holocaust never happened better talk to me… ‘cause I know what happened.” In Berlin, Locker collected a Nazi flag and had other U.S. troops sign it. Today, he brings the flag with him to classrooms and other gatherings where he tells others about the war. Thank you to the Opry for honoring Veterans like Irv, thank you for continuing to tell your story and educate Irv, and THANK YOU for your service.