Land Run participants at the Kansas – Oklahoma Line, South of Arkansas City, Kansas on Sept. 16, 1893 (Image #19276.12; Print)
James Maitland “Jimmy” Stewart was an Academy Award-winning actor known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, with a film career that spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. He was also a decorated military pilot!
Stewart became the first major American movie star to enlist in the United States Army to fight in World War II. As an experienced amateur pilot, he reported for induction as a private in the Air Corps in 1941. He was promoted to major following a mission to Ludwigshafen, Germany, in 1944 and was promoted to full colonel in 1945, becoming one of the few Americans to ever rise from private to colonel in only four years.
Stewart eventually returned home and transferred to the reserves of the U.S. Air Force, all while continuing to make movies. 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.
