Terry L.
Gould
About the Book

How Can You Mend This Purple Heart
2009, 6x9, 236 Pages
$14.95 Paperback
$35.00 Hardcover with dust jacket

To buy this book:  www.purplescribe.com
                                           
It was early September, 1968, and like thousands of kids his age, Jeremy Shoff couldn’t wait to get the next four years of his
young life out of the way.
A few months earlier he had made a verbal commitment to join the Marines, and the jungles of Vietnam were waiting. But
somewhere between the 2-S student deferment, the ensuing fist fight with his old man, and the love-making with his flower-
child girlfriend, he gave up on the Marines. Jeremy Shoff settled for a four-year stint in the Navy. If he wasn’t going to
Vietnam as a Marine, he may as well float around the world on some boat.
On a warm, Maryland day in May, 1969, nine months after leaving home, the newly-graduated Navy radioman began packing
his sea bag for the cruise of a lifetime. It would be eight months aboard a destroyer escort ship on a Goodwill Tour to the Red
Sea; from Norfolk, Virginia to the French Riviera, with stops in every major port.
Jeremy never made his cruise. His passion for celebrating led to a drunken collision with a concrete bridge abutment. Four
days later, Jeremy Shoff regained consciousness in a Navy hospital where guilt planted its roots so deep he would vomit from
the shame.
Jeremy Shoff, a Navy party boy, thought he had a lot in common with the wounded Marines who shared his ward, Marines
who could have been his comrades in combat. But as he would quickly realize, the only thing he had in common with them
was their youth—and even that was an illusion. These boys, these men, had truly lost their youth sometime after gaining
consciousness on their journey from South Vietnam to south Philadelphia.
About the Author

Terry Gould was born in Akron, Ohio and spent his
childhood in rural towns across Missouri before
joining the Navy in 1968. Following a thirty-year
career in business, Terry finally had the opportunity
to write the story that haunted him for more than
forty years. Through his story, How Can You
Mend This Purple Heart, Terry hopes to inspire all
Americans to recognize and honor the veterans of
all wars; but especially the veterans of the Vietnam
War. For they truly deserve recognition, an
unconditional recognition so long overdue, for their
love of country, their commitment to duty and their
unselfish sacrifices at a time when it was
shamefully unappreciated.

Terry now resides near Nashville, Tennessee with
his wife Barb.

Terry Gould's
Books Are

Published by
Westview, Inc.

How Can You
Mend This
Purple Heart
is available in
paperback,
case laminate,
and a large
print edition in
cloth with dust
jacket