Starr Smith, with foreword by Walter Cronkite. Of all the celebrities who served their country during World War II - and they were legion - Jimmy Stewart was unique. On December 7th, when the attack on Pearl Harbor woke so many others to the reality of the war, Stewart was already serving-as a private on guard duty at the Army Air Corps Moffet Field south of San Francisco. Seeing war on the horizon, Jimmy Stewart, at the height of his fame after Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, had enlisted several months earlier. Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot chronicles the stars long journey to become a bomber pilot in combat. Author Starr Smith recounts how Stewarts first battles were with the Air Corps high command, who insisted on keeping the naturally talented pilot out of harms way as an instructor pilot for B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators. We learn how, by 1944, Stewart managed to get assigned to a Liberator squadron that was deploying to England to join the mighty Eighth Air Force - and how, once in the thick of it, he rose to command his own squadron and flew twenty combat missions, including one to Berlin. Written by a public relations officer assigned to Stewart, Jimmy Stewart, Bomber Pilot offers a fascinating, firsthand look at the making of a true American star.

“My father would feel honored by this book.” —Kelly Stewart Harcourt, daughter of Jimmy Stewart

“How wonderful it is that Starr Smith has finally directed a literary light on the personal history of Jimmy Stewart. I welcomed Starr’s book. It’s needed and wanted. Bravo!”—Gay Talese, noted author & journalist

“This is a very well-researched and written book. Starr Smith has filled it with personal anecdotes about a World War II hero. It fills a place in history about no mere actor, but a courageous and selfless man.” —Michael E. Ryan, Retired General and former Chief of Staff, United States Air Force

“Jimmy Stewart was that rare public man who performed his duty without calling attention to himself. . . . Stewart has found his biographer in Starr Smith, a man who knew Stewart, who knew the World War II Army Air Corps, and who surely knows how to —Wayne Flynt, Professor of History, Auburn University

“. . . (This book) is an excellent biography of a distinguished airman and fine human being. . . . not a Hollywood star in uniform but a dedicated officer whose primary interest was the campaign of the Eighth Air Force. It is the work of a very accomplished —Roger A. Freeman, air power historian and author, The Mighty Eighth

“I have met a few movie stars, but of them all, I think that Jimmy Stewart was most like those modest heroes he portrayed. Now journalist Starr Smith has raised the curtain on Stewart’s gallant service as a bomber pilot and air combat commander in World War II.” —Walter Cronkite, from the Foreword

“We would have made Jimmy a group commander if the war had lasted another month.” —General Jimmy Doolittle, World War II commander of the Eighth Air Force in England

“Smith (Only the Days Were Long) served with Stewart (1908-1997) in the
Eighth Air Force during 1943-1944. They were stationed in East Anglia,
England, but Smith opens this memoir of their service with Stewart’s New
York homecoming in 1945. By then, Stewart had led 20 missions over enemy
territory and had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, along with other decorations. Smith, whose later career included stints working with Air Force brass and in the reserves, takes readers through Stewart’s entire WWII service, including his fight with the studios to let him enlist, his training and his deployment. The bulk of the book concerns action inISBN-13: 9780760321997
ISBN: 076032199X
Catalog ID: 139613AP

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