Basket case
Well-Known Member
Stewart was concerned that his celebrity status would relegate him to duties behind the lines.[117] After spending over a year training pilots at Kirtland Army Airfield in Albuquerque, New Mexico,[119] he appealed to his commander and was sent to England as part of the 445th Bombardment Group to pilot a B-24 Liberator, in November 1943, and was based initially at RAF Tibenham before moving to RAF Old Buckenham.[120]
Colonel Stewart receiving the Croix de Guerre with Palm in 1944
Stewart was promoted to Major following a mission to Ludwigshafen, Germany, on January 7, 1944.[121]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart#cite_note-124 He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions as deputy commander of the 2nd Bombardment Wing,[123] and the French Croix de Guerre with palm and the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters.[124] Stewart was promoted to full colonel on March 29, 1945,[125] becoming one of the few Americans to ever rise from private to colonel in only four years.[126] At the beginning of June 1945, Stewart was the presiding officer of the court martial of a pilot and navigator who accidentally bombed Zürich, Switzerland.[127]
Stewart returned to the United States in early fall 1945.[128] He continued to play a role in reserve of the Army Air Forces after the war,[129] and was also one of the 12 founders of the Air Force Association in October, 1945.[130] Stewart would eventually transfer to the reserves of the United States Air Force after the Army Air Forces split from the Army, in 1947. During active-duty periods he served with the Strategic Air Command and completed transition training as a pilot on the B-47 and B-52.[131]
Stewart was first nominated for promotion to brigadier general in February, 1957; however, his promotion was initially opposed by Senator Margaret Chase Smith.[131] At the time of the nomination, the Washington Daily News noted: "He trains actively with the Reserve every year. He's had 18 hours as first pilot of a B-52."[132] On July 23, 1959, Stewart was promoted to brigadier general, becoming the highest-ranking actor in American military history.[133] During the Vietnam War, he flew as a non-duty observer in a B-52 on an Arc Light bombing mission in February, 1966.[134] He served for 27 years, officially retiring from the Air Force on May 31, 1968, when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 60.[135] Upon his retirement, he was awarded the United States Air Force Distinguished Service Medal.[136] Stewart rarely spoke about his wartime service,[137] but did appear in an episode of the British television documentary series The World at War (1974), commenting on the disastrous 1943 mission against Schweinfurt, Germany.[138]
