Arthur Kuhn was born in 1926 in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in Hammond, Indiana. He grew up with one brother. His parents were both physicians so he knew his entire life that he would follow suit. Growing up during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s] was tough for many. His house was painted twice in one year because his father's patients could not pay for his services in cash. They could only afford to repay him by painting their house. He was lucky that he did not suffer during the Great Depression like many had. Kuhn was upstairs in his room listening to the Chicago Bears game on the radio when the broadcast was interrupted with the announcement that the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He did not know much about international relationships, but he knew this was bad. As war progressed, his parents often talked about the war. After graduating high school in Hammond, he began taking summer courses at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. His father wanted Kuhn to get some college courses under his belt before he would be drafted. There, he took a job as a pot washer in the mess hall used by the cadets in the Navy's V-12 program [Annotator's Note: V-12 US Navy College Training Program, 1943 to 1946]. He was paid for his work with meals. Seeing how well the cadets ate compared with the civilian students, Kuhn enlisted in the Navy in the late summer 1943 after two semesters at Oberlin College. Kuhn would wake up early every morning, make his bed and straightened his room. Then they would do a physical activity and go to class. As part of the program, he was required to take 26 credit hours per semester. Kuhn was in the pre-med program. He does not know why he chose the Navy, but he did what his father told him to do. In the summer of 1945, he was sent to the Great Lakes [Annotator's Note: Naval Station Great Lakes in Lake County, Illinois] where he spent several months as a corpsman at the post hospital. While there, he applied to three medical schools, and was hoping to get into Cincinnati Medical School [Annotator's Note: University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine in Cincinnati, Ohio]. He felt like it took forever, but he finally received an acceptance letter and was sent to medical school, but not before celebrating VJ-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945] with his friends at Great Lakes. While he was in medical school, the V-12 program shut down and stopped paying his tuition. Kuhn found out that he still had to serve in the military once he completed medical school.

Arthur Kuhn owed the government service and received a commission after he completed medical school [Annotator's Note: because he was in the V-12 US Navy College Training Program, 1943 to 1946] when the war concluded. Kuhn graduated from medical school in 1949 then did a two year internship at a hospital in Rochester, New York. He was in his fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota when, in December 1950, he was informed that he would be called to active duty for the two years he owed the Navy. He was able to get a six week delay on his order because his wife was expecting their first child. In the middle of January [Annotator's Note: January 1951], he reported to Great Lakes [Annotator's Note: Naval Station Great Lakes in Lake County, Illinois]. He attended an officers' Halloween ball and while dancing with a woman, he commented on her Halloween teeth. He soon learned that it was her actual teeth. He was reprimanded for his comment. Not long after, Kuhn received orders to report to US Naval Hospital Number One in Portsmouth, New Hampshire where he served as the chief EENT [Annotator's Note: Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat] physician for 22 months. The hospital was located at a submarine shipyard and had a naval prison. The shipyard modified World War 2 submarines. Kuhn had the opportunity to take a ride on the submarine. As he was enjoying his ride, he realized that the submarine was not returning to Portsmouth, but heading to Norfolk [Annotator's Note: Norfolk, Virginia]. He began to panic because he was not in uniform, he had no money to return to his base, and may soon be considered AWOL [Annotator's Note: Absent Without Leave]. One of the engineers on board told him that he would be taking a tugboat back and invited Kuhn to go along. Kuhn was relieved, but as he went on the deck of the submarine, he realized there was no railing. The water was very choppy so he had to time his jump onto the tugboat to take him home. Many of the prisoners at the base often had ailments, which he thinks is because they wanted a day out of the prison. Though he got along well with most of the physicians and other medical personnel he worked with, Kuhn constantly butted heads with the hospital's director. He had one incident when, during a tonsillectomy on a five-year-old, the electricity went out. It was pitch dark and he had to finish the procedure using a flashlight. He marched into the director's office and yelled at the executive. Even though the executive had a medical degree, Kuhn thought him to be a dummy. The encounters he had with his superior reinforced in him that he had no desire to make the Navy a career. Kuhn's time was up in January 1954, and he was separated from service [Annotator's Note: with the rank of Lieutenant].

Arthur Kuhn separated from service with the rank of Lieutenant in 1954. Officers were required to buy their own uniforms and he was gaining weight because he was eating too much. His clothes were getting to tight and instead of buying new uniforms for the last six months of his service, he decided to go on the Atkins diet. It worked and he lost 35 pounds in two months. Kuhn wanted to separate from the Navy because he wanted to return to the Mayo Clinic and eventually work in his father's practice. He was also not happy with his superiors of the Navy. After he was separated from service, Kuhn returned to the Mayo Clinic to complete his residency. He then joined his father at his small practice in Hammond, Indiana. His father unexpectedly died, and Kuhn carried on the practice for some time. Kuhn befriended a clinic manger who asked him to join a larger clinic in Munster, Indiana. Kuhn was able to transfer all his staff to the new clinic. He practiced at that clinic for 25 years before he retired in 1990. He would have continued to practice, but he did not like how the government and insurance companies were beginning to interfere with his practice. He did not like those entities dictating how he should treat his patients.

Arthur Kuhn's most memorable experience of his time in the military was learning "the mistrust of government." He enjoyed the comradeship of the military and enjoyed working with many people in the hospital. He learned to drink coffee in the Navy. World War 2 changed his life because he would not have been in the V-12 program [Annotator's Note: V-12 US Navy College Training Program, 1943 to 1946]. By joining that program, it changed his habits and outlook in life. He believed he still would have become a physician if World War 2 did not happen. Both of his parents were physicians, and it was what he always wanted to do. Kuhn feels like he did his part in World War 2. He did what he was asked to do. Kuhn comments that World War 2 left us [Annotator's Note: the world] with out a Nazi Germany or Japanese aggressor, but today, countries still do not get along. He believes its important to have institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] and to continue to teach World War 2 to future generations because it is a part of our history and it is important to know our history. He believes a lot of people today are not familiar with history and do not admire it. They are trying to destroy it. [Annotator's Note: Kuhn tells a story about while he was in New Hampshire, the petty officers organized a clam bake picnic at the beach on a Saturday and a voice interjects in the interview to help the interviewee with the term “Clam Bake at 0:46:45:000.] They were having a great time and Kuhn jumped in the water and realized the water was freezing. He looked around and saw no one else was swimming.