Hero and Patriot Jimmy Stewart #history #courage #bravery #facts #ww2

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]Hero and patriot, Jimmy Stewart.

[00:00:03]Before he was one of Hollywood's biggest stars, James Maitland Stewart was just a tall, shy kid from Indiana, Pennsylvania. After Pearl Harbor, Stewart didn't wait to be drafted. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941.

[00:00:20]Despite being a famous actor, he insisted on flying combat missions.

[00:00:26]He flew 20 dangerous [music] bombing runs over occupied Europe in a B-24 Liberator, often facing heavy flak and German fighters.

[00:00:37]He rose through the ranks to become a full colonel.

[00:00:40]Many in Hollywood stayed home making movies.

[00:00:43]Jimmy Stewart went to war.

[00:00:46]He flew missions so dangerous that he completed the [music] required 25 combat flights and then volunteered for more.

[00:00:54]For his service, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, and later the French Croix de Guerre.

[00:01:03]After the war, he returned to Hollywood and gave us the unforgettable performance in It's a Wonderful Life, but he never stopped serving, eventually retiring from the Air Force as a Brigadier General.

[00:01:18]Jimmy Stewart didn't [music] just play heroes on the screen, he lived it.

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