Mission
Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe

In March 1941 Jimmy Stewart, Americas 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 twenty 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 Stewarts, and he didnt know if he would ever work in Hollywood again. Then came Its 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 Stewarts life as a squadron commander in the skies over Germany, his return to Hollywood, and the changed man who embarked on production of Americas 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 194345. What emerges in Mission is the story of a Jimmy Stewart you never knew until nowa story more fantastic than any he brought to the screen.