Singer and songwriter Grace Morrison recently won the 2016 Eventide Songwriting Competition with “Taking Johnny Home,” a tribute to her late uncle who served in the Vietnam War and passed away in May.

Peter Morrison, who died at the age of 64 last year, was a Wareham resident his whole life. “Taking Home Johnny” is Grace's interpretation of his story and she says it's one of the best songs she's written.

One day, when Grace was visiting her uncle, he shared some of the things he kept from the war.

“I opened his drawer and saw some pretty graphic pictures of the violence in Vietnam,” she said. “I imagined having been there and what it must have done to these people- especially teenage boys.”

In the music video for the song, Morrison added a dedication “to our Veterans; those who lost their lives and those, like [her] uncle, who made it home but were forever changed.”

“My mom told me that when he left here, he was a teenager. And when he came back, it's like life had been sucked out of his eyes,” said Morrison. “He died of alcoholism, which to me is a direct result of the emotional trauma he went through. I was hoping to use the song as a way to discuss veterans issues.”

The music video for “Taking Johnny Home” was released on April 7 and could be found on YouTube.

A total of 188 songs that were submitted into the contest, and Morrison won first place.

“Taking Johnny Home” is also in the top ten in the Wildflower Music and Arts Festival Songwriters Competition in Dallas, Texas, where 232 participants throughout the country entered for a chance to win. The top four finalists will each be awarded a cash prize of $500, an invitation to perform in a spotlight round during the festival, and sell CDs on the festival's stage.

Morrison will be playing in the Gateway Tavern on June 17 and at the Rose Alley Ale House in New Bedford on April 27. She will also be performing at a free music festival on July 23 in Onset to raise money for the Wareham Junior Basketball Association and the Spinney Memorial Library Branch.