T-L Photo/KAILEY CARPINO Local Vietnam veteran Kurt Turner holds his recently published book about his time serving in the U.S. Navy, titled “I’ve Never Been to Heaven (But I’ve Been to Oklahoma).”

BELMONT — Vietnam veteran and Belmont resident Kurt Turner recently published a book about his time serving in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, titled “I’ve Never Been to Heaven (But I’ve Been to Oklahoma).”

“The only way that our stories get out is if we write,” he said.

Turner said he wanted to tell his whole story, including “the worst.”

“So many of the movies that we watch are based on true facts, and that’s about as far as it goes, and I understand they’re out to make money and everything else. If you write a book, it’s there. I mean, I guess you can’t make people believe that it’s true, but I think it goes a lot farther than the movie, as far as all the information that you get,” he said.

Turner said he did not write the book to make a profit and mostly wanted to share his story with family and friends.

Turner said he served as a Navy hospital corpsman, which he said is similar to a medic. He said he served from 1965-68 and was in Vietnam from 1967-68. He said coincidentally that he left for Vietnam on Oct. 31, and he finished writing his book on Oct. 31, 2023.

Turner said that during his service, he once disobeyed a direct order so he could comfort a dying soldier. As a Navy hospital corpsman, he was treating a wounded man.

“I just stayed with him. He was obviously dying, and the doctors said to take him over to the corner. In the corner, they got no care or anything, and I refused to walk away,” he said.

Turner said helicopters were on their way with more wounded soldiers, so the hospital had to make room for them. The soldier he was with wanted prayer, so he prayed with the man until he died.

Turner said he met the man’s family and visited his grave 30 years later.

Turner shared another story that he discusses further in his new book. He said that a patient had his leg wrapped up, and medics went to unwrap his leg to treat his injuries.

Turner said another person he was working with yelled: “Stop. There’s a grenade in there. Our field corpsman don’t wrap legs like that. That’s that’s not ours,” just before they unwrapped his leg.

“It was a booby trap,” Turner said.

Turner said he volunteered to handle the grenade and quickly threw it over the side of the ship.

“I didn’t work with grenades. I thought they were all 3 seconds. I just kind of hunched over it thinking there’s no use in a whole bunch of people dying,” he said.

“It went off right before it hit the ocean. I still have nightmares about the flash,” Turner said.

Turner noted that he has struggled with post traumatic stress disorder following the war. He said it affected his relationships with his family members. He took advantage of counseling services provided by Veterans Affairs.

“Best thing I ever did,” he said.

Turner said he later became a counselor so that he could spread mental health awareness and help others in similar situations. He also taught psychology.

Turner currently works as a Belmont County critical incident stress management coordinator at the Belmont County Emergency Management Agency. He said he works especially with first responders who have experienced recent trauma.

Turner also serves as a minister.

“God called me into the ministry, and I’ve been a minister ever since,” he said.

He said his book is related to Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

“The second half of the book is based on the scripture, ‘for everything, there’s a season.’ It’s about how there’s a time for everything, a time to live and a time to die. The second half of my work is based on that scripture. It’s my life based on that scripture as I go through each one of those seasons of life,” Turner said.

Turner said his book is for sale at amazon.com. It is available in paperback, hardback and a Kindle version. Turner said people can also reach out to him to purchase the book.

He said that hopefully, the book will be for sale in bookstores soon, but he is working out some kinks with his publisher.

Turner said he would like to host a book signing event soon but is still figuring out the details.