Doug Adkins

American country music singer and songwriter, born October 3, 1963 in Havre, Montana, USA. Transcription from promo literature included with "Free": DOUG ATKINS, a 27 year old, proud American, who served in the U.S. Army for four years, has been singing country music all his life. While stationed in Germany in 1986, Doug participated in one of the Army's International Peace Marching Teams. Along with 10,000 soldiers from all over the world and 30,000 civilians, Doug marked in the annual 50-mile and 100-mile walks in Honor of the Allied Forces who marched through and liberated Holland during World War II. Ten million Dutch people turned out to cheer the marchers in honor of the Allied Forces, weeping tears of happiness and verbally expressing their gratitude to the soldiers for freeing their country. Doug was so moved by the overt gratitude of the Europeans more than forty years after the war, that he wrote "Free". Unable to pursue a career in the military because of several leg injuries, Doug received a medical discharge in 1990. If he had not been released he would probably now be serving in the Gulf with his many friends and the Allied Forces, fighting to liberate Kuwait. "Free" is Doug's contribution to the cause, a reminder to Americans to thank the Armed Forces for the price they pay for their freedoms Americans so often take for granted.