Louise Post Ritter was born in Corfu, Washington in July 1921. She grew up in Altus, Arkansas in a family of eight children. Her family lived on a 40-acre farm and attended the nearby Catholic church. She attended a parochial school. She then attended Ozark High school in the county public school system. Her father held several jobs in addition to being a grape farmer for the family winery. [Annotator’s Note: Someone interjects in the interview at 0:4:46.000.] Because of the family business in wine, Ritter says prohibition [Annotator’s Note: The Prohibition Era began in 1920 when the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors, went into effect with the passage of the Volstead Act. Despite the new legislation, Prohibition was difficult to enforce] made the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] harder on her family. Her family always had food on the table because they lived on the farm and raised livestock and produce. Ritter was not aware of the European and Japanese hostilities in the late 1930s. After she graduated from high school, she attended nursing school. She was still in school when Pearl Harbor was attacked [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. The outbreak of the war and rationing did not affect her or her community very much because they had food, clothes, and shelter. Two of her brothers and one brother-in-law served in the military.

Louise Post Ritter was in nursing school at the outbreak of World War 2. After working for a surgeon in Little Rock, Arkansas for a year, she and her sister joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1945 just before the end of the war. Ritter kept up with the progression of the war because her brothers were in service. Because she went to nursing school during the early 1940s and was exposed to life in wartime, joining the Army seemed natural to her. She attended basic training in Columbia, South Carolina and recalls that it as easy and enjoyable. She and her sister volunteered to go overseas. A few weeks later, they received orders to report to Camp Kilmer [Annotator’s Note: Camp Kilmer, New Jersey] for overseas deployment. She and her sister boarded a ship and headed across the Atlantic. She joined the Army Nurse Corps because she felt compelled to. When the war ended in Europe in 1945 [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945], she celebrated. They celebrated VJ-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945] as well. She arrived in Germany in late December 1945 and was stationed in Linz, Austria. She saw much destruction in cities such as Vienna [Annotator’s Note: Vienna Austria] and Munich [Annotator’s Note: Munich, Germany]. Most of her patients suffered from only minor ailments, which made work easy.

After World War 2 ended, Louise Post Ritter volunteered to go overseas to Europe as an Army Nurse with her sister. In January 1947, she was discharged as a second lieutenant in Linz, Austria after a year in the Army, but signed up as a civilian nurse with the War Department to remain in Europe. Her sister was married a month and a half after they had separated from the service. Many people bought cigarettes from the PX [Annotator's Note: post exchange] for under a dollar per carton and sold them for 30 dollars on the black market. When Ritter became engaged, she had a friend buy her satin material while she was in Switzerland, then she had a seamstress design her dress. One of the hardest things about living in Europe was getting access to supplies, except through the PX. Everything in Europe was bombed. There were no tall buildings still standing. She became friends with a girl whose father was a shoe repairman. There were prisoner camps that were guarded. They did executions while she was there. While she was in Europe, she bought a brand-new Ford. Ritter met her husband and was married at this time. She decided to stay as a civilian nurse because she wanted to continue to travel in Europe and visit family in Switzerland. Ritter was able to visit many countries while she was overseas. Ritter returned to the United States in spring of 1948 to New York. She and her husband had to wait a few days to get her car. Her husband was a general practitioner and psychiatrist.

Louise Post Ritter recalls the celebrations of VE Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945] and VJ Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945] as her most memorable experiences of World War 2. She served because she was interested in travel, had no conflicts, was young, and the military was asking for nurses. She and her sister were published in Stars and Stripes [Annotator's Note: United States military newspaper]. If it was not for her service, she would not have been able to travel as much as she had wanted to. Her desire to travel led her to the Army, and she thinks back on her service as a time of great education and opportunity. She talks about the history of her family and how they settled in the United States. America means a lot to her because of the freedom she has. She questions the way the country is going, especially with the covid-19 shutdowns. Ritter believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and we that should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations because it could prevent future world wars.