<p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Editor’s Note: This article was previously published on December 20, 2023. Since &#8220;It&#8217;s A Wonderful Life&#8221; remains a holiday classic, we’re bringing it back.</span></em></p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>The beloved Christmas classic film &#8220;It&#8217;s a Wonderful Life&#8221; was the movie that brought a beleaguered and combat-weary actor James &#8220;Jimmy&#8221; Stewart back to fans after the war — but it may have also been the movie that brought a desperate man back from the brink.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.life.com/people/jimmy-stewart-photos-of-a-world-war-ii-hero-homecoming-1945/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Maitland Stewart</a> was preparing to go to war for several years before he was drafted in 1941. He earned a civilian pilot&#8217;s license in the hopes that the Army would let him fly — and he even took a trip to Europe in 1939 to get a feel for the landscape, knowing that it was likely he would end up there at some point.</p>
<p>By the time the Empire of Japan launched its surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Stewart had already attempted to join the Army. Rejected once in 1940 because he was underweight, the always-slim actor attempted to pack on a few pounds and ultimately turned to a doctor for a note explaining that he was just genetically predisposed to be thin.</p>
<p>Biographer Robert Matzen — who wrote &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mission-Jimmy-Stewart-Fight-Europe/dp/0996274057/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=jimmy+stewart+and+the+fight+for+europe&amp;qid=1621538823&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe</a>&#8221; — explained, &#8220;Step by step, he set himself up to end up in England in a bomb group. One of those steps was taken years before he was drafted, and that was when he became a star in Hollywood and bought a plane that was an army trainer and proceeded to learn to fly and train, and log hours on that plane so that he could be a pilot when the war came.&#8221;</p>
<div id="attachment_478319" style="width: 461px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-478319" class="size-large wp-image-478319" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1337627840-451x576.jpg" alt="Portrait of American actor lieutenant colonel James Stewart (1908 - 1997), 1944. He had just been named chief of staff of a Liberator bomber combat wing, and recently had been awarded both the Oak Leaf Cluster and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service. (Photo by US Army/PhotoQuest/Getty Images)" width="451" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1337627840-451x576.jpg 451w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1337627840-235x300.jpg 235w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1337627840-768x982.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-1337627840.jpg 801w" sizes=" (max-width: 451px) 100vw, 451px" /><p id="caption-attachment-478319" class="wp-caption-text">Portrait of American actor lieutenant colonel James Stewart (1908 &#8211; 1997), 1944. US Army/PhotoQuest/Getty Images.</p></div>
<p>Stewart&#8217;s determination — and his pre-war preparations — did not pay off immediately, however. The actor, who was fresh off his Best Actor win in 1940&#8217;s &#8220;The Philadelphia Story,&#8221; was initially drafted to appear in film reels and enlistment propaganda films — but eventually he demanded to see combat alongside his other draftees.</p>
<p>Stewart eventually got what he asked for, rising through the ranks from buck private to major in just four years and earning a spot in the cockpit of a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber known as Dixie Flyer. He flew dozens of missions over Germany, some as command pilot, and earned both a Distinguished Service Medal and a Distinguished Flying Cross.</p>
<p>But toward the end of the <a href="https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/person/james-maitland-stewart">8th Air Force&#8217;s Big Week</a> in early 1944 — a six-day mission in late February originally named Operation Argument and designed to decimate the German Luftwaffe in preparation for the D-Day invasion — things <a href="https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/jimmy-stewart-ww2-mission-air-force/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">went sideways</a>. Stewart was on his 10th mission as a leader and serving as co-pilot when his plane was hit. The German flak left a sizable hole in the fuselage of his plane — just inches from his feet. And while he and his pilot were able to recover, when the smoke cleared from the cockpit, they had to watch as another in their squadron took a similar strike, lost a wing, and plummeted toward the ground.</p>
<p>Stewart was not the same after that and was eventually grounded. At the time, his condition was referred to as &#8220;flak-happy,&#8221; &#8220;shell-shock,&#8221; or &#8220;combat fatigue&#8221; — but today&#8217;s doctors might have diagnosed the decorated pilot with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.</p>
<p>&#8220;He wasn&#8217;t afraid of bombs or bullets. He was afraid of making a mistake and causing someone to die. That was his endless stress, and that&#8217;s what ended up grounding him,&#8221; Matzen wrote.</p>
<div id="attachment_478808" style="width: 744px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-478808" class="size-large wp-image-478808" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-515219828-734x576.jpg" alt="(Original Caption) 9/1/1945-New York, New York-Just like any serviceman returning from the war, Colonel James Stewart was greeted by his proud parents, who journeyed from Indiana, PA, to see their son after his arrival aboard the Queen Elizabeth. A veteran of a year and a half overseas with the 8th Air Force, Colonel Stewart, in his last command, was senior officer over approximately 9,000 men. Here he is shown with his parents at the St. Regis Hotel." width="734" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-515219828-734x576.jpg 734w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-515219828-300x236.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-515219828-768x603.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-515219828.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 734px) 100vw, 734px" /><p id="caption-attachment-478808" class="wp-caption-text">(Original Caption) 9/1/1945-New York, New York-Just like any serviceman returning from the war, Colonel James Stewart was greeted by his proud parents, who journeyed from Indiana, PA, to see their son after his arrival aboard the Queen Elizabeth. Getty Images.</p></div>
<p>He returned home to his proud parents in Pennsylvania. On the outside, he was a war hero; on the inside, he was nearly broken.</p>
<p>Surviving on little more than peanut butter and ice cream — he struggled to keep any solid foods down — Stewart&#8217;s already thin frame became painfully so. Still, he decided after a short time at home that what he really needed was to get back to work.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have to go back and face Hollywood. I&#8217;ve been away for five years, other people are taking my roles,&#8221; he said — but when he got there, he quickly realized that the landscape had changed and so had he. Stewart ended up sharing an apartment with fellow actor Henry Fonda, who had also recently returned after serving in the Pacific.</p>
<div id="attachment_478811" style="width: 427px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-478811" class="size-large wp-image-478811" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-103354640-417x576.jpg" alt="Lt. Henry Fonda (1905 - 1982) during his military service on board the USS Bearss, summer 1945. (Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images)" width="417" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-103354640-417x576.jpg 417w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-103354640-217x300.jpg 217w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-103354640.jpg 742w" sizes=" (max-width: 417px) 100vw, 417px" /><p id="caption-attachment-478811" class="wp-caption-text">Lt. Henry Fonda (1905 &#8211; 1982) during his military service on board the USS Bearss, summer 1945. (Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images)</p></div>
<p>&#8220;I had been away from the film business, my MGM contract had run out and, frankly, not knowing how to get started again, I was just a little bit scared,&#8221; Stewart described the precarious nature of his situation in a 1987 interview with Guideposts. &#8220;Hank Fonda was in the same boat, and we sort of wandered around together, talking, flying kites and stuff. But nothing much was happening.&#8221;</p>
<p>Stewart got only one offer in those early weeks. His former boss and MGM exec Louis B. Mayer <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/first-teaser-trailer-jimmy-stewart-170732188.html">proposed a biopic</a> capitalizing on the star&#8217;s military service. &#8220;Let&#8217;s do &#8216;The Jimmy Stewart Story&#8217; — we can show you flying over Frankfurt, we can show you as a military hero,&#8221; Mayer said. Stewart&#8217;s answer was an unequivocal &#8220;No,&#8221; and he flatly refused to discuss the matter further.</p>
<p>Director Frank Capra, an Italian immigrant who had been naturalized after serving in World War I, had also spent <a href="https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/director-frank-capra-goes-to-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">time away from Hollywood</a> during the war. As soon as Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Marshall got wind of Capra&#8217;s enlistment, he had him commissioned as a major and assigned to report to him personally.</p>
<div id="attachment_478955" style="width: 782px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-478955" class="size-large wp-image-478955" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-931704116-772x576.jpg" alt="Italian-American film director Frank Capra (1897 - 1991) as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the US Army, during a stay in London, World War II, 19th August 1943. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)" width="772" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-931704116-772x576.jpg 772w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-931704116-300x224.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-931704116-768x573.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/12/GettyImages-931704116.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 772px) 100vw, 772px" /><p id="caption-attachment-478955" class="wp-caption-text">Italian-American film director Frank Capra (1897 &#8211; 1991) as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the US Army, during a stay in London, World War II, 19th August 1943. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)</p></div>
<p>&#8220;To win this war we must win the battle for men’s minds,&#8221; Marshall told Capra in one of their early meetings. &#8220;I want to nail down with you a plan to make a series of documented, factual-information films – the first in our history – that will explain to our boys in the Army why we are fighting, and the principles for which we are fighting.&#8221;</p>
<p>Capra protested, explaining that he had never made any film that could be considered a &#8220;documentary.&#8221;</p>
<p>Marshall responded with the gruff bluster that he was known for, saying, &#8220;Capra, I have never been chief of staff before. Thousands of young Americans have never had their legs shot off before. Boys are commanding ships today, who a year ago had never seen the ocean before.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I’m sorry, sir. I’ll make you the best damned documentary films ever made,&#8221; was Capra&#8217;s reply.</p>
<p>But when it was all over, Capra returned to Hollywood in much the same state as Stewart: adrift, and wondering if he still had what it took to deliver what the fans wanted.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jimmy-stewart-a-world-at-war-and-why-its-a-wonderful-life-was-almost-less-wonderful-part-ii">Jimmy Stewart, A World At War, And Why &#8216;It&#8217;s A Wonderful Life&#8217; Was Almost Less Wonderful: Part II</a></strong></p>

<script async src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script><div data-widget-host="revcontent" data-pub-id="165152" data-widget-id="290588"></div><script src="https://delivery.revcontent.com/165152/290588/widget.js"></script>

Jimmy Stewart, A World At War, And Why ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ Was Almost Less Wonderful: Part I

CONTINUE READING

Spencer Pratt Thinks He Found The Fix For L.A.’s Homeless Disaster

Why Trump Might Not Make It To His Son Don Jr’s Wedding

Spencer Pratt Reveals His Political Role Model

WATCH: Suspected Fraudster On The Run After Fourth-Floor Balcony Escape

WATCH: The Moment Police Officer Catches Baby Thrown From Burning Home

One Of America’s Most Dangerous Rescue Missions Is Becoming A Movie

Entertainment

Celebrities

Christmas

Hollywood

Military

Movies

World War II

A video goes viral showing a baby being refused his mother by two gay "dads". This is just the tip of the iceberg, which is why we will have an important discussion today about surrogacy. 

Hour 1

The Matt Walsh Show

Ep. 1765 - This Video Is One Of The Worst Things I've Seen In A Long Time 

The Strait of Hormuz officially opens for business (kind of), the Pope makes “shocking” comments on immigration, and President Trump promises UFO disclosure at TPUSA. 


The Michael Knowles Show

Ep. 1956 -  Pope Leo's "SHOCKING" Immigration Comments EXPLAINED

A false miscreed has corrupted our leadership class.


The Andrew Klavan Show

Ep. 1275 - Dumb, Dumber and Progressive

President Trump announces a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, a murder-suicide involving former Democratic Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax shakes Virginia, and France and Britain hold a conference to secure the Strait of Hormuz – after the Iranian conflict ends. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.

- - -

Ep. 2738

- - -

Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3

- - -

Today's Sponsors:

Alliance Defending Freedom - Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE or text 'WIRE' to 83848 to learn more.

Pocket Hose - Text MORNING to 64000 to get a FREE pocket pivot and their 10-pattern sprayer with the purchase of ANY size Copper Head hose. Message and data rates may apply.

Morning Wire

U.S. Expands Hormuz Blockade & VA Fairfax Deaths Investigated | 4.17.26

U.S. Expands Hormuz Blockade & VA Fairfax Deaths Investigated | 4.17.26 [Member Exclusive]

A ceasefire goes into effect between Israel and Lebanon, a tragic murder-suicide rocks Virginia, and Dairy Queen deploys AI in the drive-thru. Get the facts first with Evening Wire.
- - -
Ep. 2737
- - -
Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 
- - -
Today’s Sponsor:

Alliance Defending Freedom - Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE or text “WIRE” to 83848 to learn more.


Evening Wire: Lebanon Ceasefire Begins & Murder-Suicide Rocks VA | 4.16.26

The Pendragon Cycle

Menu

— Entertainment —

Jimmy Stewart, A World At War, And Why ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ Was Almost Less Wonderful: Part I