Jimmy Stewart grew up in mildly prosperous circumstances in a smalltown in western Pennsylvania. On both sides of his family, the men had fought in all of America's wars back to the Revolution. The other abiding influence in his life was a total and absolute fascination with flight. He graduated from Princeton at 24 in 1932 and tried his hand on Broadway. Two years later, the 6'4", 135-pound Stewart was off to Hollywood with an MGM contract. He was a prodigious ladies man from day one, and soon was a full-blown movie star. In March of 1941, just after winning an Oscar, he pushed to be drafted when his number came up and he had been deferred because of his weight. Once in, he had to fight for pilot training because of his age. He was a training officer for over a year and finally, made it to England in late 1943.
Kiel was the target on his first mission on Dec.13, 1943. As the squadron commander, Stewart flew in the co-pilot seat on the eight-hour round trip missions. They went up every second or third day on flights that were frightening, freezing and totally exhausting. He had to write the 'letters home' to the families of his men when a plane went down. The planes themselves were capable of falling out of the sky for no apparent reason and were considered extremely difficult to fly. Indeed, the word 'wrestle' is frequently used to describe handling the B-24. Throughout the first four months of 1944, the Luftwaffe was still wreaking havoc on the British and American invaders. Getting to 25 missions was still considered unlikely. Stewart had 10 missions by February. One of the things that rattled him was his role in 'The Mortal Storm', the film that led to MGM being banned in Germany. If he were ever captured, they would have a filed day in the propaganda ministry. He was considered very good, cool, calm, collected and 'lucky' in his role as a squadron leader. His superiors concerned about his 'visibility', even though he kept his head down eschewed the press and any publicity. He was promoted to group ops officer in a different group and was now on the ground a bit more often. By mid-summer, now Lt. Col. Stewart was again promoted and flying became less frequently. The Luftwaffe was pretty much gone at this stage and the summer weather made flying slightly easier. On March 21, 1945, Col. Stewart flew for the last time as Wing Commander. The op was a close-run thing as they were bombing the field where the Germans had their jet fighter planes. and when it was over, Stewart was spent. Hap Arnold told him he needn't fly any more and he welcomed the respite. On August 1, he stepped off the HMS Queen Mary in NY harbor. His war was over.
"He was thirty-seven, looked fifty and his career as a Hollywood romantic figure was over." He returned to LA, but was completely at sea; stressed out, feeling as if it all was unimportant, yet he needed to work. Equally at a loss for what to do with himself was former Army Col. Frank Capra. He approached Stewart with a movie based on a short story called 'The Greatest Gift.' Running down the street in a very hot Encino, California in June of 1946 yelling "Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls", Jimmy Stewart knew he could carry on.
I have always liked Jimmy Stewart. Probably my earliest recollection of him is as Charles Lindbergh. I remember reading in his obituary in 1997 that as a nine-year-old, he lay in bed in Indiana, Pennsylvania listening to the reports of Lucky Lindy. I thought how serendipitous. On a Friday night in the late 70's, stressed out after a hard week and with my family asleep, I came upon 'It's A Wonderful Life'. This was before it had made its legendary comeback. I was mesmerized and felt as if I had stumbled upon one of the finest movies I had ever seen. I still love the film. I knew Stewart had flown in the war. I didn't know just how hard he had fought. In truth, anyone who flew over Europe in a B -17 or a B-24 had a hard war. The planes were rudimentary, the conditions were horrible and with flak and enemy fighters all around, death was capricious, random and very near each and every day. God bless the 'Greatest Generation'.
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