Terry L. Gould

Terry Gould was raised throughout rural Missouri living a Tom Sawyer-like life as his dad moved their family from farm to farm, town to town and house to house within the towns. The early years of packing up and moving to new places with new friends every year or two nurtured in him the creativity and adventuresome spirit that has been cause for both celebration and regret.

In the fall of 1968 Gould enlisted in the U. S. Navy during the Viet Nam War era. In May, 1969 he was involved in a horrific car accident and spent the next fifteen months in the U. S. Naval Hospital, Philadelphia, PA 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.

In this award-winning novel, author Gould draws upon his experiences while recovering in a military hospital surrounded by wounded Marines from the Viet Nam War. He creates a plain truth, no-holds-barred narrative, stark in its simplicity, detail and humor. It takes the reader into the world of a military hospital and traces the lives of these Marines on a fifteen-month journey to recovery—and their triumph over the physical, mental and emotional wounds of war.

It took Gould more than 40 years for the story to break free from the emotions of his experiences and find its way on paper.

How Can You Mend This Purple Heart received the 2010 Military Writers Society of America Silver Award and the 2013 Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, James Webb Award for exemplary writing about the Marine Corps and Marine Corps life.

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 Masters in Business Administration from Baldwin-Wallace University, Berea, Ohio. He currently is retired after a 30-year career in marketing, advertising and public relations and resides near Nashville.