The Warbird: Three Heroes, Two Wars, One Story

AS A JOURNALIST RIDING INTO IRAQ IN 2003 WITH FOUR AIRMEN FROM TEXAS Tara Copp had seen her naive ideals about war reduced to the violent realities of modern combat. From an ambushed convoy speeding through the wrong neighborhood under heavy fire, to an airman who survived a mortar hit and his recovery at Walter Reed, Tara told their stories even as she struggled to understand her own. Solace lay in her late grandfather's memoirs. Col. Richard C. "Dick" Harris had survived 63 bombing missions in WWII piloting a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber against some of the hardest targets Allied crews ever faced. Some- where in his memoirs would be a story to help her frame her own experience. But his memories were vague. No dates. No squadrons. But lots of tales of sex, booze, antics and women. Lots of women. Tara blushed. She had a tale or two of her own. This wasn't you, she thought. Maybe in your final years you were too sick to remember? A thought took hold: to finish his war story, for both of them. The Warbird is their story, spanning two wars and three heroes - Tara's grandfather Dick Harris, his brother, Easy Company Staff Sgt. Terrence "Salty" Harris" and Senior Airman Brian Kolfage - ordinary men living and fighting in extraordinary circumstances. The Warbird is Rose Leigh "Rosie The Riveter" Abbott turning raw aluminum into B-24 Liberators, and the men of the 448th and 98th Bomb Groups flying those machines into a maelstrom of fire, smoke, sacrifice and death. The Warbird is an unflinching look at the confusion, boredom, terror and sacrifice of war. It uncovers the true stories of two generations of family and fighter alike, revealing why so many servicemembers never talk about their wars, and how families find resolution in their loved ones' unfinished war stories.

Review :
"'We sat in our stink and wondered at the speed of connectivity under a clear night of 1,000 stars.' Join Tara Copp as she invites you along on the journey to know her grandfather's war. Copp, an embedded reporter in Iraq, leads you through her own generation's war along the way, and the road through both conflicts is adrenaline-laced, deftly-written, and raw. This unique multi-generational perspective shows the harsh and derailing effects of war upon people's souls. It's a quest for redemption, for understanding, and it's a must-read for any pupil of combat nonfiction. The narrative, to steal Copp's words, is 'a wound up punch, waiting to land.'" -MARCUS BROTHERTON, New York Times bestselling author of We Who Are Alive & Remain: Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers "Tara Copp's The Warbird is an exhaustively researched war story, moving family memoir, and journey of self-discovery rolled into one-and it succeeds brilliantly on all counts. Written with a seasoned journalist's eye for detail, and a storyteller's narrative flair, it gripped me from start to finish. I outright love this book." -JEROME PREISLER, New York Times bestselling author of First to Jump: How the Band of Brothers was Aided by the Brave Paratroopers of Pathfinders Company "The Warbird is a piercingly honest account of life in the war zone - both overseas and at home. Tara Copp shares her life as an "embed," measuring the toll of battle in blood and emotion as reporters struggle to transform the fury of war into a rational stream of words and images." - J I M D E F E L I C E, #1 New York Times bestselling author of American Sniper, Code Name Johnny Walker, and Fighting Blind "What did you think when you went to war?" This question is at the center of The Warbird. Connecting her own journey with her grandfather's six decades earlier, Tara Copp's engaging book takes you from Iraq to World War II and back. You'll learn about both, but most importantly about the enduring human story behind conflict." - P . W . S I N G E R, author of Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War