After a two months on, two months off relationship that lasted for 15 months, Sharon and Rick married on October 31, 1971 after a six-week engagement. Married on a Saturday night, they moved to San Antonio, Texas on Monday, found an apartment on Tuesday, moved in on Wednesday, and on Thursday Richard was inducted into the U. S. Army with orders for Viet Nam after the 5 weeks of basic training. Enrollment into the flight surgeons program to take care of the helicopter pilots enabled Rick to postpone his deployment. When he left for Viet Nam on March 2, 1972 they had been married four months and Sharon was three and a half months pregnant. Rick was a prolific letter writer and sent home 337 letters, a diary, photos, slides, and multiple tapes back. She saved it all because she was uncertain if he would come home and this could have been the only information she could provide for their child about who his father had been.
War Bride is about the eleven months Richard A. Kurtz, MD was in Viet Nam and Sharon’s recollections of those months. Rick’s letters detail daily life on the base in Chu Lai and Da Nang, events at the officers’ club, what he had for dinner, and comments about the drug and alcohol problems from a personal view. It is also the story of a young, newly married couple planning their future, uncertain if there would be a future.
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Richard A. Kurtz, M. D. was sued only once during his years of practice in internal medicine. He had been asked to evaluate a patient who was currently undergoing a laparoscopic tubal ligation when she suddenly developed problems. The obstetrician doing the surgery was later sued by the patient as well as the hospital, the anesthesiologist, and although serving as a good Samaritan, Dr. Kurtz was also named in the suit. This is the story of the court proceedings showing how a trail is not a search for truth but a manipulation of the truth.
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