WAR STORIES
PAUL BIRKHEAD – MARCH 6, 2011

“I have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another.”
~ Thomas Jefferson

There are a multitude of quotes about war and seldom will you find ones glamorizing it. Just like General Sherman famously said, “War is Hell.” If you haven’t actually been in combat, one way to get a feel for warfare is to read a memoir of someone who witnessed the horror first-hand. Rowan Public Library’s shelves are stocked with personal narratives from servicemen and women who have fought in all branches of America’s armed forces.

An Ace of the Eighth: an American Fighter Pilot’s Air War in Europe is a first-person account of World War II written by Norman “Bud” Fortier. Mr. Fortier was an aviator in the U.S. Army Air Corps who flew over one hundred combat missions in the skies above Europe. This narrative is full of interesting facts about the men and the aircraft that helped subdue Nazi Germany and is punctuated with photographs of Fortier, his comrades, and the aircraft that they piloted.

In No Bugles, No Drums, the setting is the Korean War. In this book, freelance journalist Rudy Tomedi gathered the reminiscences of dozens of Korean War veterans. Set roughly in chronological order, these narratives tell the story of the conflict in Korea from several points of view which makes for very interesting reading.

We Were Soldiers Once and Young by Harold Moore is the story of a small group of American soldiers in the 7th Cavalry who fought against all odds in the first significant engagement with Viet Cong regulars in Vietnam. In this battle, fought in the fall of 1965, the Lt. Col. who commanded the American forces was none other than the author himself. The book is sure to shock the reader with its descriptions of the bloody and gritty combat experiences of Moore and the men of his battalion. By the way, if the book’s title sounds familiar, it was made into a movie starring Mel Gibson back in 2002.

Speaking of personal narratives of war, and Vietnam in particular, Rowan Public Library is partnering with Waterworks Visual Arts Center to honor and illustrate the Vietnam experiences of Rowan County servicemen and women. Photos and oral histories are being collected at Rowan Public Library and will culminate in a photography exhibit at Waterworks in August 2011. Please call Paul Birkhead, at RPL’s East Branch (704-216-7841) if you would like more information.