Faith is often tested most deeply in places where comfort disappears. For Kurt Turner, that testing came during the Vietnam War, where service, trauma, death, and memory forced him to confront questions that would follow him for the rest of his life. In I’ve Never Been to Heaven (But I’ve Been to Oklahoma), Turner shares a deeply personal memoir of war and faith, showing how his time as a US Navy hospital corpsman reshaped his spiritual journey in ways he could not have expected.
Turner served aboard the USS Repose, a hospital ship that received wounded and dying servicemen from the battlefield. His work placed him in moments where life and death met with frightening closeness. As injured young men arrived by helicopter, Turner and the medical staff had to respond quickly, offering care, comfort, and strength in the middle of overwhelming suffering. These experiences did more than test his training. They tested his heart, his mind, and his relationship with God.
At the centre of Turner’s spiritual journey is his encounter with James E. Williams, Jr., a wounded Marine whose final moments became one of the defining memories of Turner’s life. That experience stayed with him long after Vietnam, shaping his struggle with PTSD, his understanding of grief, and his search for purpose. What happened in that moment was not something Turner could simply leave behind. It became part of his faith, part of his pain, and part of the calling that later helped him make sense of his survival.
What makes I’ve Never Been to Heaven (But I’ve Been to Oklahoma) so moving is that Turner does not present faith as an easy escape from suffering. His memoir shows that faith can exist alongside trauma, sorrow, guilt, and unanswered questions. He writes honestly about the weight of memory and the long road toward healing, giving readers a sincere look at how belief can be reshaped by pain rather than untouched by it.
Turner’s story speaks to veterans, families, believers, and anyone who has wondered where faith fits in the darkest seasons of life. His journey reminds readers that spiritual growth is not always gentle. Sometimes it comes through loss. Sometimes it comes through witnessing what no person should have to see. Sometimes it begins in the very place where hope seems hardest to find.
For readers interested in Vietnam War memoirs, Christian testimony, PTSD awareness, veteran stories, and accounts of healing after trauma, Kurt Turner’s book offers a powerful and meaningful experience. I’ve Never Been to Heaven (But I’ve Been to Oklahoma) is a testimony of service, faith, remembrance, and survival. It reminds us that even under fire, the soul can search for meaning, and faith can become a path through pain.
Discover this book now, available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CKKSNF3Z
