Freedom Sings USA released Heyworth IL Sessions Vol. 1 on March 14, featuring songs from Illinois veterans. The album includes World War II veteran Paul Petri and Vietnam pilot Capt. David E. Henard. Each track is based on personal stories turned into music. The project preserves decades of military history through song.
Paul Petri (right) and David Henard (left) are honored at their album release party at the Heyworth American Legion Hall. Petri, who is 99 years old, is a veteran of WWII. Henard was Huey pilot in the Vietnam War.
by Alan Look
Best Look Magazine
HEYWORTH - The newest Freedom Sings USA album,
Heyworth IL Sessions Vol. 1, released March 14, 2026, brings together the voices of Illinois veterans whose stories span more than eight decades of American military history. Among them are two men whose service could not be more different in era or battlefield, yet whose songs now stand side by side: World War II veteran Paul Petri and Vietnam War helicopter pilot Capt. David E. Henard.
Freedom Sings USA is a national nonprofit that pairs veterans with professional songwriters to turn their life stories into original music. Each track on the album is written with the veteran, drawn directly from their spoken memories and performed by either the veteran or a collaborating artist.
At 99 years old, Paul Petri is one of the last living members of the generation that fought in World War II. His song,
Since the Beginning, appears as Track 2 on the album and was recorded in Waynesville, Illinois, where Petri both sang and performed the piece himself.
The song reflects Petri’s Army service beginning in 1944, the year he entered military life as a young man during the final phase of the global conflict. While the specific details of his wartime assignments are not publicly archived, the themes of the song follow the Freedom Sings USA tradition: a veteran recounting his own journey, in his own words, shaped into music that preserves his story for future generations.
Petri’s presence on the album represents not only his personal history but also the rapidly disappearing voices of the World War II era. His contribution stands as a living bridge between the past and the present, reminding listeners that the stories of 1944 still echo today.
Track 3,
Angels on Assignment, comes from Capt. David E. Henard, a Vietnam War veteran whose service is well documented through museum archives, oral history interviews and his own published memoir.
Henard served as a UH-1 Huey helicopter pilot with Diamondhead 10, Company B, 25th Aviation Battalion, 25th Infantry Division. His combat missions included support during the Tet Offensive, one of the most intense periods of the Vietnam War. His experiences are detailed in his 2008 book,
Victory Stolen: The Perspectives of a Helicopter Pilot on the TET Offensive and Its Aftermath, published under the name Earl Henard David.
Angels on Assignment reflects Henard’s time flying dangerous missions in Vietnam, where helicopter crews often served as the lifeline for soldiers on the ground. The song follows the Freedom Sings USA model: a narrative built from the veteran’s own memories, shaped into a musical tribute to the men he served with and the missions that defined his year in combat.
Though Petri and Henard served in different wars, in different eras, under vastly different circumstances, their songs share a common thread: each is a firsthand account of service, sacrifice and survival. Freedom Sings USA’s Heyworth sessions brought these stories together, preserving them in a format that reaches far beyond military archives or personal recollection.
The
album includes 13 tracks written with Illinois veterans, each one a collaboration between the storyteller and the songwriter. The result is a collection that documents lived history through music — a record of voices that might otherwise fade with time.
The Heyworth sessions are part of Freedom Sings USA’s ongoing work in central Illinois, where veterans have participated in songwriting retreats, concerts and recording sessions over the past several years. The organization’s mission is simple: to help veterans tell their stories and to ensure those stories are heard.
With the release of
Heyworth IL Sessions Vol. 1, the voices of Paul Petri and Capt. David E. Henard now join that growing archive — two men separated by decades, united by service and preserved in song. The album is now found on Apple Music, YouTube, and Spotify.
TAGS: Freedom Sings USA Heyworth IL Sessions Vol 1 album, Illinois veterans music storytelling project, Paul Petri WWII veteran song Since the Beginning, David Henard Vietnam helicopter pilot song, veteran storytelling through music Illinois
Click thumbnails to see a larger view
