I toldja...he was one of my old man's COs in Wymondham in Norwich, where there's a small shrine for the Eighth Air Force in Norwich Cathedral. I found it very moving. I've always made the same distinction with the same cause whenever I talk about Jimmy Stewart, and that's because,whatever his personal politics, he busted his ass to be a …
I toldja...he was one of my old man's COs in Wymondham in Norwich, where there's a small shrine for the Eighth Air Force in Norwich Cathedral. I found it very moving. I've always made the same distinction with the same cause whenever I talk about Jimmy Stewart, and that's because,whatever his personal politics, he busted his ass to be a great officer under the most difficult circumstances available and, by everyone's account, succeeded. but he DID take that job very personally and daily proximity to violent death over which one has a tiny measure of control on the best days, topped with the responsibility to save thousands of lives besides his own...it's easy to see that could give somebody pause for the rest of his life.
but then again, I'm the guy who needs to watch "Twelve O'Clock High" at least once a year, so...
I have a couple stories about his time in the Air Force. One is funny: they took an 88mm hit in the nose - the shell went straight through and came out about 3 feet in front of the cockpit. They wondered what the structural damage was, so when they landed back in England Stewart kept the nose high as long as he could, but when he gently dropped it onto the gear, the nose gear and the nose collapsed. According to his wingman, who I interviewed, they all got out and everyone was safe, and Stewart looked at the nose and scratched his head and then "in a perfect Jimmy Stewart movie line" as the guy described it, said "Well, I guess it's true what they say - any landing you can walk away from..."
that IS a very good story. yeah, all my dad's stories have people starting out not very happy they had some fucking movie star trying to show the world how cool he was when their lives were in the balance, but eventually, nobody was skeptical anymore. he actually flew on lots of bomber missions sort of halfway incognito...didn't make any kind of big deal about it. I know a famous story from somewhere else about him trying to get volunteers and saying something like: " it won't be easy and I'm not blaming you for not wanting to but I'm gonna be going..."
with that voice and affect, right away you've got an advantage in trying to get a group to do its best work.
I remember telling you one time about that unexploded bomb on my dad's first mission when he found himself a bombardier who didn't know how to drop a bomb (trained on B-17s, suddenly finding himself in a B-24). when the bomb fell out upon landing and started bouncing down the landing field, Jimmy Stewart was there to witness it and he, very wisely, got the fuck out of there.
I toldja...he was one of my old man's COs in Wymondham in Norwich, where there's a small shrine for the Eighth Air Force in Norwich Cathedral. I found it very moving. I've always made the same distinction with the same cause whenever I talk about Jimmy Stewart, and that's because,whatever his personal politics, he busted his ass to be a great officer under the most difficult circumstances available and, by everyone's account, succeeded. but he DID take that job very personally and daily proximity to violent death over which one has a tiny measure of control on the best days, topped with the responsibility to save thousands of lives besides his own...it's easy to see that could give somebody pause for the rest of his life.
but then again, I'm the guy who needs to watch "Twelve O'Clock High" at least once a year, so...
I have a couple stories about his time in the Air Force. One is funny: they took an 88mm hit in the nose - the shell went straight through and came out about 3 feet in front of the cockpit. They wondered what the structural damage was, so when they landed back in England Stewart kept the nose high as long as he could, but when he gently dropped it onto the gear, the nose gear and the nose collapsed. According to his wingman, who I interviewed, they all got out and everyone was safe, and Stewart looked at the nose and scratched his head and then "in a perfect Jimmy Stewart movie line" as the guy described it, said "Well, I guess it's true what they say - any landing you can walk away from..."
that IS a very good story. yeah, all my dad's stories have people starting out not very happy they had some fucking movie star trying to show the world how cool he was when their lives were in the balance, but eventually, nobody was skeptical anymore. he actually flew on lots of bomber missions sort of halfway incognito...didn't make any kind of big deal about it. I know a famous story from somewhere else about him trying to get volunteers and saying something like: " it won't be easy and I'm not blaming you for not wanting to but I'm gonna be going..."
with that voice and affect, right away you've got an advantage in trying to get a group to do its best work.
Yes, everyone ended up respecting him - he never asked anyone to do anything he wouldn't do and likely already had.
I remember telling you one time about that unexploded bomb on my dad's first mission when he found himself a bombardier who didn't know how to drop a bomb (trained on B-17s, suddenly finding himself in a B-24). when the bomb fell out upon landing and started bouncing down the landing field, Jimmy Stewart was there to witness it and he, very wisely, got the fuck out of there.