After the Music Stops: Released but not Recovered - Paperback

by Gloria Gayden Corona (Author)

Captain Ben Ringsdorf was locked away for six and a half years in the Hanoi Hilton, the most notorious prison camp in the Vietnam War. After he and the rest of his captive soldiers were freed at war's end, he was greeted with not only a hero's welcome, but a "ready- made" family. However, even with all of the accolades and love he received, Ben faced physical, mental and emotional challenges just as daunting as his imprisonment, ones that threatened to tear his family apart. While things appear to look bright for the Ringsdorf family, their patriarch soon finds himself haunted by past memories and debilitated by alcoholism and a sense of paranoia, signs of the (at the time) not-yet-diagnosed PTSD. After the Music Stops is Gloria Gayden Corona's memoir of her promising - yet whirlwind - relationship with the former POW, chronicling their blossoming romance, Ben's repatriation and desire for a medical career, and his struggle with mental illness.

Author Biography

Gloria Gayden Corona is a proud Alabama native who loves her country and knows the horrors of war firsthand. Her late former husband, Captain Ben Ringsdorf, endured several years of imprisonment and torture during the Vietnam War, and those trials took an immense toll on him, Gloria and their family. She hopes that this book will enlighten others about what many American fighting men, women and their families go through. Gloria lives on the shores of Mobile Bay with her husband, Barry, and her dog, Tommy.