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40 Insights into the Lives of Famous War Veterans

Khalid Elhassan July 13, 2019 26 min

25. Jimmy Stewart avoided cushy gigs and deliberately sought combat

Jimmy Stewart’s WWII jacket. National Air Force Museum

Higher ups sought to shunt Jimmy Stewart into PR and use him in bonds drives. Stewart, however, wanted to fight. After many clashes, he managed a transfer to a B-24 heavy bomber group, which joined the US Eighth Air Force in Britain in autumn of 1943. On December 13^th, 1943, Stewart flew his first combat mission, piloting the lead B-24 of the group’s high squadron as they bombed U-boat facilities in Kiel, Germany. A few days later, he flew lead bomber for the entire group as it bombed Bremen. By February, 1944, Stewart had been promoted to major, and was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross. The following month, he led an entire Bomb Wing during a raid on Berlin.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.