When he left Hollywood in March 1941, Jimmy Stewart was America's boy
next door movie star and a recent Academy Award winner. He left all that
behind to join the United States Army Air Corps and fulfill his family
mission to serve his country--only to face obstacle after obstacle from
both Hollywood and Washington. Finally he made his way to the European
Theater, where several near-death experiences and the loss of men under
his command took away his youthful good looks. The war finally won, he
returned home with millions of other veterans to face an uncertain
future, suffering what we now know as PTSD. 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, from
takeoff to landing and every key moment in between. 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.
