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.