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Brett McCay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.

Jimmy Stewart is one of the greatest actors in American cinema.

He's appeared in some of our most beloved films like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, the Philadelphia story,

Vertigo, and of course that perennial holiday favorite, it's a wonderful life.

What many people don't know about Jimmy Stewart is that he served for four years during World War II flying B-24 bombers over Germany.

And unlike a lot of movie stars that were drafted and spent their service making films for the war effort,

Stewart actually saw combat. And even after the war was over, he continued his military service and retired as a Brigadier General in the Air Force.

My guest today has written a book dedicated to looking at these forgotten parts of the actor's life.

His name is Robert Matzen and his book is Mission, Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe.

Robert shares why Stewart's family history instilled an iron sense of duty towards serving his country in the military,

and how Stewart spent his single day off as an actor training to be an army pilot in the years leading up to World War II.

We all also discuss how Stewart had to fight the military brass and his boss at MGM Studios to ensure that he actually saw combat

instead of staying state-side and make propaganda films.

And then Robert gets into detail about the combat missions Stewart flew during World War II,

his leadership style as an officer and how the war took a toll on him physically and emotionally.

We in our conversation talked about how the war influenced Stewart's film career and when he returned home,

and how it may have helped him create one of the cinemas most iconic characters, George Bailey.

If you're a fan of Jimmy Stewart, you don't want to miss this show.

After the show is over, check out our show notes at aam.is slash Stewart.

Robert Matzen, welcome to the show.

Thank you for inviting me.

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