Mission : Jimmy Stewart and the fight for Europe / / Robert Matzen.

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Mission : Jimmy Stewart and the fight for Europe / / Robert Matzen.

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Matzen, Robert D., author.

Mission : Jimmy Stewart and the fight for Europe / / Robert Matzen.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : GoodKnight Books, [2016]

xi, 371 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

In March 1941, Jimmy Stewart, America's boy next door and recent Academy Award winner, left fame and fortune behind and joined the United States Army Air Corps to fulfill his family mission and serve his country. He rose from private to colonel and participated in 20 often-brutal World War II combat missions over Germany and France. In mere months the war took away his boyish looks as he faced near-death experiences and the loss of men under his command. The war finally won, he returned home with millions of other veterans to face an uncertain future, suffering what we now know as PTSD. Younger stars like Gregory Peck were now getting roles that might have been Stewart's, and he didn't know if he would ever work in Hollywood again. Then came It's a Wonderful Life. For the next half century, Stewart refused to discuss his combat experiences and took the story of his service to the grave. Mission presents the first in-depth look at Stewart's life as a Squadron Commander in the skies over Germany, and, his return to Hollywood the changed man who embarked on production of America's most beloved holiday classic. Author Robert Matzen sifted through thousands of Air Force combat reports and the Stewart personnel files; interviewed surviving aviators who flew with Stewart; visited the James Stewart Papers at Brigham Young University; flew in the cockpits of the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator; and walked the earth of air bases in England used by Stewart in his combat missions of 1943-45. What emerges in Mission is the story of a Jimmy Stewart you never knew until now, a story more fantastic than any he brought to the screen.

Bibliography Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 359-361) and index.

Prologue: Unreality -- High-strung -- Soaring -- Factory work -- Silver birds -- Reliable girls -- A storybook life -- Mr. Smith goes to Hollywood -- Seeing history -- Restless spirit -- The eagle -- Alias James Smith -- Overachiever -- Static personnel -- A game of chess -- Destination: meat grinder -- Boy scout -- Daft -- Shakedown -- Pushed by angels -- Mission today -- A late breakfast -- Topaz blue -- Bailout -- Roman candle -- January on the Rhine -- The dungeon of Eppstein -- Iceman -- Baptism -- Boys will be boys -- Mother Nature's a bitch -- Fat dogs -- Argument, part one -- Argument, part two -- Bloodbath -- Physics lesson -- The big B -- No-nonsense man -- The Sumatran -- Invasionitis -- They are coming! -- Germany burning -- The great aviation -- Grounded -- Marching to death -- Aged in East Anglia -- Gold light -- Epilogue: Reaching beyond.

NASM copy purchased with funds from the S. Dillon Ripley Endowment.

Stewart, James, 1908-1997.

United States. Army Air Forces. Air Force, 8th -- Biography.

United States. Army Air Forces. Bombardment Group, 445th -- Biography.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Aerial operations, American.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Western Front.

Bomber pilots -- United States -- Biography.

Motion picture actors and actresses -- United States -- Biography.

Catalog Source No.:

(OCoLC)ocn951227559

Horizon Information Portal 3.24_7488

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