The Warbird: Three Heroes, Two Wars, One Story

by Tara Copp

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.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

235 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Laura Youngberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful and engaging

Tara Copp's voice and memories opened up two wars to me. This book was surprising, funny, and both real and full of magic. Thank you.

[David Beckett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grim-visaged war, as depicted in Siegfried Sassoon’s Memoirs of An Infantry Officer, slays innocence, murders the restless enthusiasm of youth. Some enlistees might recognize themselves in Sassoon’s description of a naive young man hungry for action, desperate to win the respect of his peers. Many would recognize, too, the broken, dismal man portrayed upon the book’s final leaves. Although she was never herself a soldier, veteran journalist Tara Copp has, over decades, developed intimate acquaintance with these tragic experiences. Comparable to The Face of War by Martha Gellhorn, who covered world conflicts for more than 50 years, time and again putting herself in the line of fire, Ms. Copp’s work is informed by what she has seen, heard, and learned on the battlefield, in the canteens, in the foxholes, in the hospital wards, and standing before the flag-draped coffins that so often memorialize our fallen heroes. In a work that spans two wars and tells three tales: those of the author’s grandfather, Dick Harris, his brother, Easy Company Staff Sgt. Terrence “Salty” Harris,” and Senior Airman Brian Kolfage, Ms. Copp, a friend and confidant of many contemporary American warfighters, speaks always with candor and respect, never demonizing her subjects nor glamorizing the sacrifices made by these courageous men and women in uniform. Subtle readers will detect, in her descriptions, echoes of Paul Bäumer, the doomed protagonist who so profoundly expressed Remarque’s anguish, and Joe Bonham, the soldier of Dalton Trumbo’s invention, from whom war stole arms, legs, eyes, ears, teeth, and tongue, but left a functioning mind -- a prisoner within his own body. Tracking the course arced by such inimitable literary figures, Copp watched her own innocent, adolescent ideals reduced to ashes. Perhaps for this reason, Jim Defelice, author of American Sniper, called The Warbird “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.” Or, as another pen wrote, “Withered is the garland of war. The soldier’s pole is fallen! Young boys and girls level now with men. The novelty is gone, and nothing left remarkable beneath the visiting moon.”

With 5 stars, I recommend Ms. Copp’s timely, well-written, thought-provoking book.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written book. Never was dull and kept my interest, always.

[Melinda M · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Warbird: Three Heroes, Two Wars, One Story (Paperback) by Tara Copp is an account of two wars and the family as well as three heroes. Tara Copp writes about the good ,bad and the ugly as well as how each hero experiences their war. It is an unique perspective as all of the three heroes are related to her5.
It is an important view and story. All families should try to get their history down and for the family that Tara is part of this is well done. I like history because you learn a lot . This book is an important book to add to my military /WWII/current events/21st century collection.

I won a copy of this book thru a Goodreads Giveaways.

[Roxanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a goodreads win review. This is an excellent book about 2 wars and their heroes. I could really relate to the story of her grandfather in WW2 and his bombing missons over Germany. My father ran bombing missions also in the B24 planes flying out of Italy but his plane was shot down after his fifth mision (and at age 18) he was in 5 prisoner of war camps. He saw first hand how war was and one time when he was being transported between camps our own troops shot at the train car he was in and he was injured further. The book is also is about the war in Iraq which had other issues when the reporters were embedded with the troops. Some Marines that came back from Iraq told me that country was hell on earth and they quit the military to keep from going back. Anyone who likes military stories will love the details of this book.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a Goodreads winner of this book. An enjoyable read, about the lives of the author Tara Copp, her grandfather and his life during World War II, and her time as a reporter with soldiers in Iraq. This is a book about connecting lives past and present. It is an enjoyable, interesting, and engaging read.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book by a former colleague -- way to go Tara Copp!

[Billy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I have a direct connection to the author, so this review may not be perceived objectively.

I found "The Warbird" to be a thoroughly engrossing book of narrative non-fiction. The author manages several significantly different threads and manages to braid them into a cohesive whole that is at once engaging and inspiring.

The historical aspects are exhaustively researched and documented. Even the 'drier' historical aspects come to life in an accessible way for the non-WWII history fan, because it has direct bearing on the current-day material that is part of the whole theme.

The author is honest about her own foibles and the imperfections of others. It's not an apologists manifesto to foreign policy nor is it a particular indictment of an increasing genre of 'war porn' books.

Rather, it's a focused examination of who heroes are, and how, (quoting from the book) a war cannot be any more or less than the men and women who fight it. There's nothing 'clean' about a war and this book adroitly points that out from a vivid first-person perspective, and a rigidly-documented third for the historical aspects.

It's very, very hard to write a book like this and do it well. The author has succeeded in her mission here.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a Goodreads Giveaway. 4.3 Stars. A well-researched book that was entertaining to read. I found the sections about the author's grandfather the most interesting. I was a little confused about the sections about Rosie. These sections didn't seem to fit in with the personal nature of the story. Personally, I probably would have also arranged the sections a bit differently - but it is not my story. Through the descriptions there was a clear sense of the author's own passion in uncovering her grandfather's story and some of her own personal heartache - this made the author both human and endearing. Minor typos in 3 or 4 places that missed the editorial stage. I would recommend this book. Thank you Ms. Copp!

[Scott Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't generally enjoy writing reviews but I won this book from a giveaway on Goodreads and that's kind of part of the deal so here goes. The Warbird by Tara Copp is a memoir of the author's wartime experiences as an embedded reporter (and later government employee) in Iraq and her attempt to make sense of herself by researching and piecing together her grandfather and great uncle's WWII stories. First off, I should note that this is NOT a book about the Iraq War. Sure, Copp tells her war stories but the book is mainly about how those experiences fit into her life and affected her and her personal life. I did feel that Copp could've expanded on her time in Iraq and maybe provided more detail in order to cement the effect that it had on her to the reader. The Warbird is deeply personal story and Copp is thoughtful and quite honest in evaluating herself and her actions. Copp's research on her grandfather and the resulting narrative is interesting in and of itself but takes on additional significance in her attempt to understand herself through it. Copp effectively weaves back and forth between herself and her grandfather and Iraq and WWII. She even throws in a bit about the real woman that Rosie the Riveter was based on. That sidebar is only tangentially related but interesting nonetheless. Overall The Warbird is a brisk, engaging and worthwhile read.