How Can You Mend This Purple Heart? - Hardcover

Gould, T L

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1937763242 ISBN 13: 9781937763244

Publisher: Ideas Into Books Westview, 2012

Synopsis

Like the Afghan war today and the ten-year-war in Iraq, the Vietnam War tore at the bodies and souls of those who served, particularly the nearly 1,100 Americans who lost multiple limbs and returned home from Vietnam to face a different kind of battle: acceptance. In this riveting first novel, winner of the Military Writers Society of America 2010 Silver Medal Award, author T.L. Gould draws upon his experience recovering in a military hospital to create a plain truth, no-holds-barred narrative, stark in its simplicity, detail and humor. From dressing changes and morphine drips to off-site forays under a fence and into neighborhood bars and brothels, Gould chronicles the precipitous journey to recovery of the men of Ward 2B; how they learned to walk again,to love again, and to triumph over the most impossible odds.

About this title

About the Author

T. L. Gould was raised in rural Missouri. In the fall of 1968, Gould enlisted in the US Navy during the Vietnam War era. In May 1969, he was involved in a horrific car accident and spent the next fifteen months in the US Naval Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was lucky enough to share ward space with combat-wounded Marines and discovered what war can do to human beings—physically, mentally, and emotionally.

After serving in the Navy from 1968 to 1971, Gould earned a bachelor’s degree in technical education from the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, followed by a master’s in business administration from Baldwin-Wallace University in Berea, Ohio. He is currently retired after a thirty-year career in marketing, advertising, and public relations, and resides near Nashville.

Review

“This is a veterans’ story, an inspiring story, a story of brotherhood and love growing from the horrific ground of traumatic injuries and combat-shattered bodies. Healing isn’t quick. It’s like climbing a 10-klick hill with a 100-pound ruck in 100-degree heat every day for years. Via Terry Gould’s story we feel the weight, the pain, the effort; and we are awed by the will to overcome.” —John M. Del Vecchio, author of The 13th Valley

Edition details

• Publisher: Ideas Into Books Westview
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1937763242
• ISBN 13: 9781937763244
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 254