This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show.

And this next story combines military history and cultural history

and tells the story of an actor we all know Jimmy Stewart.

In 1946, by the way, he starred in It's a Wonderful Life.

But only a year before and years before, he was serving in World War II

and in a dangerous job, a pilot

running missions over Europe, bombing the heck out of the place.

Here to tell the story of how Jimmy Stewart got there about his life, his historian, and

regular contributor here at Our American Stories.

Roger McGrath himself, a former Marine.

Here's McGrath.

Jimmy Stewart was one of the most beloved actors in the history of Hollywood.

Early in his career, he had the look of the boy next door,

gileless and innocent, honest and sincere.

He matured into an everyman character, a regular guy dealing with daily life and the love

and heartbreak of romantic relationships.

Ultimately, he was the heroic figure, often standing alone against great odds and demonstrating courage and wisdom.

Whether portraying a young man, a struggling husband, or the Western hero,

Jimmy Stewart always seemed like simply one of us, the quintessential American guy.

In real life, that's exactly what he was.

...