Local author’s book selected for Tupelo Reads program

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – The selection for a program promoting reading throughout the city of Tupelo featured a book written by a POW in the Vietnam War.

Tap Code was the selection for this year’s Tupelo Reads program. The book was written by Sara Berry, along with Colonel “Smitty” Harris and his wife Louise.

Tap Code chronicled Colonel Harris’ eight years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.  His wife also told about raising their children at their Tupelo home, unsure of her husband’s fate.

This was the tenth anniversary of Tupelo Reads and the first time a Tupelo author has been featured.

“Initially we were interested in getting it out for our kids and grandkids, so on, but lots of people got interested in it, by word of mouth and every other way, had a pretty wide circulation, in first several months it surpassed initial printing,” Col. Harris said.

“The story is so inspiring, and when we hit the global pandemic, we thought, what great characteristics the book embodies, for all times, but especially for a time like now when we are going through hard circumstances,” said Lisa Reed, chairperson of Tupelo Reads.

Colonel Harris and his wife, along with co-author Sara Berry, will visit students at Tupelo High School and there will be a lunchtime event on September 30 at the Lee County Library.

The book is available at the library, or Reed’s Gumtree Bookstore.