This is a very good book not just about his life and how he got into show business but also how he felt a need to serve. To actually do something during the war, not just be in a uniform selling bonds. Once you get past the early part of his career that leads up to the war and him joining and becoming a pilot. You are then taken through his struggles to actually get into the air and actually fight. You met his crew and are given a first-hand account of Jimmy Stewart their missions. To me it seemed he had more problems with the war department than with anything. After the war not looking like the young man he was before because of the stress of flying he ended up back at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania wondering if he would ever get an acting job again when he got a call from Frank Capra about a roll. He took it and now we see him every Christmas in “It’s a Wonderful Life”. There is a lot of information in this book and most of it has nothing to do with his acting career. There is his friendship with Henry Fonda, and his marriage, but the real meat of this book is his flying during WWII. A very good book.

Absolutely one of the best biographies in general that I’ve read. Jimmy Stewart is a name I’m sure most are familiar with, including me, but I honestly had no idea about his life outside of Hollywood. This book gave an in-depth look at his service in the war and his life. Such a well written, easily readable and interesting biography! You will not regret picking this book up!

MORE HERO THAN IN THE MOVIES

We live in a day and age where enemies of our country are hard to recognize. There is no war going on with one country pitted against another, allies joining into the battle and a clear cut enemy define. The war on terror is one where the rules of engagement have changed just as they did so long ago when redcoats marched across open filed only to be cut down by well-hidden militiamen. This was not the case during World War II.

When Hitler invaded Poland and continued his push to control all of Europe the battlefield was plain to see. This was also a time before protesters and social media would play a part in trying to prevent people from standing up for their country and those who had aligned with it, a time when patriotic fervor ran rampant and soldiers joined the battle because it was the right thing to do. And while many of those who joined the battle were just everyday ordinary citizens a few were more famous. Jimmy Stewart was one of those.

MISSION tells the story of James Stewart, the actor most famous for roles in movies like IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, VERTIGO and MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON. The book opens by giving us background on his early home life in Pennsylvania where his father owned a hardware store. It follows him to college and where he found his passion in acting. The book takes him to Hollywood where he becomes an actor, trying to get by and rooming with a man who would become his lifelong friend, Henry Fonda. His sexual conquests of numerous female stars is discussed. And then the war breaks out and although he was older than most recruits, Stewart tries to join the Air Force.

As a young boy growing up, Stewart was fascinated with planes having ridden in one as a young boy. When he was a little older he took flying lessons and became an accomplished pilot. So when America became involved in the war, and with past generations of the Stewart family having served in the military, Stewart felt obligated to put his skills to work. This was a forced obligation but one he eager to do. His number came up in the draft but he failed to meet the weight requirement, an item he fixed making him eligible.

Enlisting in the Army, Stewart joined the Air Corp where his being a licensed pilot and a college student resulted in his becoming a second lieutenant. Stewart was first assigned to help with the promotional side of the military, using his acting skills in propaganda pieces. But that wasn’t what he signed on for. With help he was able to parlay his skills to become a trainer for pilots who had joined. It was still not what he wanted which was to join in the fight, but he followed orders all the while trying to reach the point where he could do what he felt he was supposed to.

Stewart eventually got his wish and was assigned to the 445th bomb group where he became a leader. The group would go on to distinguish themselves by making runs over Germany to lay waste to the enemy. But the cost in lives, not just those who were bombed but the pilots who were making these bombing runs, took its toll on Stewart. Problems with planes, being shelled while in the sky and more brought the real horrors of war to a man who had been playing fictional roles not long prior. Now he was playing the most important role of his life, that of leader, a man who would inspire those who flew with him.

While this may seem like plenty of information about this book in actuality it gives little but the bare bones. When I began reading this book, as a fan of Stewart, I was unhappy at first. It felt like the book was taking on a tattler newspaper style by discussing all of the women Stewart slept with in Hollywood, his sexual conquests. Honestly it made me put the book down for several weeks as I’ve grown tired of that style of book. But something made me go back and I’m glad I did.

While that part of the book began the story it was the rest of it that made up the majority, a tale of a man who seemed to have everything going for him, the beginnings of a successful career in Hollywood and a happy life, who followed the duty he felt to his country enough to give that up to serve. Not just to serve but to request that he not receive preferential treatment but be allowed to put his talents to use where they could best be applied like every other soldier.

In doing so Stewart placed his life in jeopardy. He inspired the men who served under him. His experiences molded him into a better man than before he left for war. And the effects of that war changed the way of life he had led before which would explain the topics discussed in the earlier pages of this book. Perhaps things could have been discussed more delicately but they do give us background on Stewart. Reflecting back now I also begin to think about the fact that he was a young man, single and doing what many young people do. For some reason we usually hold our movie starts to a higher standard, at least those back then. It makes it difficult to learn they were merely human.

But it is that humanity that is the core of this book. It is the view of the war from the seat of a bomber being hit by flak, bombs bursting in the air around it any one of which could send it to a fiery death with its crew, Stewart’s crew, that shows what a true hero Stewart was. The sadness of being required to send letters to fallen comrade’s families, the success of a bombing raid into enemy territory and the responsibility for the lives of his men to come home fall on his shoulders as the book progresses.

The book alternates in various chapters discussing not only Stewart but others who fought the war or were affected by it. Some relate stories of those who were being bombed, others of another Air Corp man shot down behind enemy lines. All offer a depiction of what it was like. War is terrible but there are times when it is the only option.

It seems we take far too many things these days for granted. We are a spoiled society more prone to find offense in the simplest things or become so deeply involved in social media that we don’t know what’s really going on in the world. Young people have no clue what the effects of war can mean, not just the bloody details but the repercussions of not taking a stand, of not doing the right thing. My suggestion would be to have them read this book, to have them read more like it, to discover what responsibility to country truly means. Jimmy Stewart took that responsibility to heart and did what he felt was required of him. If only more felt that way these days.

This was a great biography on James Stewart's WWII service. The descriptions of the events which took place during the 453rd Bomb Group missions over Europe are well written and can be heartbreaking. Stewart's struggle with PTSD are also part of this narrative and how he was able to deal with this is a testament to his character. This book shed light on a side of Stewart I knew little about. It was a book I didn't want to end.

This is a very good book not just about his life and how he got into show business but also how he felt a need to serve. To actually do something during the war, not just be in a uniform selling bonds. Once you get past the early part of his career that leads up to the war and him joining and becoming a pilot. You are then taken through his struggles to actually get into the air and actually fight. You met his crew and are given a first-hand account of Jimmy Stewart their missions. To me it seemed he had more problems with the war department than with anything. After the war not looking like the young man he was before because of the stress of flying he ended up back at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania wondering if he would ever get an acting job again when he got a call from Frank Capra about a roll. He took it and now we see him every Christmas in “It’s a Wonderful Life”. There is a lot of information in this book and most of it has nothing to do with his acting career. There is his friendship with Henry Fonda, and his marriage, but the real meat of this book is his flying during WWII. A very good book.

ROBERT MATZEN. Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe. GoodKnight. Hardcover, 416 pages, $28.95, GoodKnightBooks.com.
Ever wonder how James Stewart went from playing the gentle soul in lighthearted movies like Destry Rides Again and The Philadelphia Story to emotionally scarred, volatile heroes in Winchester ’73 and The Naked Spur? Robert Matzen delivers an argument for the transformation in this gripping narrative of Stewart’s war years, during which he flew 20 bombing missions over Germany and France. Nonfiction purists will rightfully frown over Matzen’s “getting inside his subject’s head,” as Leonard Maltin calls it in the foreword. Stewart rarely spoke of his war experiences. Yet this harrowing look at combat and the stress of command is hard to put down. After reading this, you’ll never watch Twelve O’Clock High without imagining Stewart in the Gregory Peck role, but you’ll understand how Stewart could be so convincing as a good man with a dark side.

Published in Roundup Magazine, December 2016, in Book Notes. Western Writers of America, www.WesternWriters.org