Towards the end of his life, Jimmy Stewart refused to
discuss his experiences in World War II. He rarely spoke of his achievements or
missions even to his family. And as expected most of the good folks who wrote
books about Jimmy Stewart have always focused on his screen career, often
dismissing or only briefly mentioning his career in service. Throughout World
War II Stewart commanded numerous pilots, led death-defying bombing missions and
rose to the rank of Brigadier General. Once in service, Stewart ducked the
press at every opportunity and spent four years at air bases serving his
country. His enlistment in service was a media frenzy (his fingerprints were
taken multiple times for the benefit of the press) and this sparked the actor’s
decision not to receive preferable treatment because of his California occupation.
What Stewart accomplished “over there” he took with him to the grave.
Thankfully, author and historian Robert Matzen went to the
trouble of tracking down many of Stewart’s copilots, Michael Bandler’s donated
research at Brigham Young University, and dug through the Military Personnel
Records at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri, to
read the 600-page military personnel file covering Stewart’s career from
induction in 1941 to retirement in 1968. And this was just the start of an
exhausting task of compiling every shred of detail regarding Stewart’s career
in service.
Jimmy Stewart was a changed man when he returned to
Hollywood in 1945. This book, for the benefit of the legions of Hollywood fans,
also documents Stewart’s rehabilitation in the movie-making industry with Frank
Capra’s post-war film, It’s A Wonderful
Life, which helped Stewart get back into the grove of making movies.
Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe (2017, GoodKnight Books) was long overdue and I was thrilled to learn a
year ago that Robert Matzen was finishing his research and was going to publish
his findings. Considering the next few biographies about Jimmy Stewart will
only briefly touch on the actor’s military career, Matzen has provided us with
a chapter in the life of Jimmy Stewart that will fill in a much-needed gap. Matzen’s
book may even be consulted by other historians writing future biographies about
Jimmy Stewart (as if we really need another to add to the dozen already
published), proving further how badly in need a book of this type was needed.
As an author myself I can attest that winning awards is
pretty cool and lends itself to bragging rights but there can be no better
award than receiving a letter from a family relative or historian for what your
book accomplished beyond the printed page. Kelly Stewart, daughter of Jimmy
Stewart, remarked: “As Jimmy Stewart’s children, we have always known that our
father’s service during the war was the most significant event of his life,
although he rarely spoke of it. This book gives us the best glimpse we will
ever have of what that experience was like for him and the men he flew with.”
Regardless of what awards Robert Matzen will receive from this book there can
be no greater satisfaction that accompanies this treasured tome than an
accolade like that.
