One of America's greatest actors of Hollywood's golden age, Jimmy Stewart has far grown to become one of our most treasured icons. Few actors could offer both on and off the screen the values and grace as he did. A true patriot, he loved his country as much as the ideals that embodied it, and brought those values to each of his roles. His optimistic everyman demeanor is one that resonates with us to this day.
The first movie star to enter the service for World War II, Stewart joined a full year before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Initially refused entry into the Air Force because he weighed 5 pounds less that the required 148 pounds, he talked the recruitment officer into ignoring the test. He eventually became a Colonel, and earned the Air Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Croix de Guerre and 7 battle stars. In 1959, served in the Air Force Reserve, he became a brigadier general.
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