LIFE With Jimmy Stewart: A War Hero Comes Home, 1945
LIFE With Jimmy Stewart: A War Hero Comes Home, 1945
2 minute read
Not published in LIFE. Jimmy Stewart and his dad outside the family hardware store, Indiana, Pa., 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
When James Maitland Stewart, the oldest child and only son of Alexander and Elizabeth Stewart of Indiana, Pa., enlisted in the United States Army in 1941, he wasn’t like most privates. For one thing, he was already well into his 30s. For another, he had already been rejected by the military for being too skinny. (The first time around, he was five pounds under the Army’s weight standard for new recruits.) And finally, no other World War II inductee had won a Best Actor Oscar, as Stewart had for his indelible performance as reporter Mike Connor in the 1940 classic, The Philadelphia Story.
Putting his Hollywood career on hold to join the Army Air Corps—a forerunner to today’s Air Force—Stewart ultimately reached the rank of colonel, making him one of few Americans ever to rise from private to colonel in four years. He flew dozens of combat missions, some as command pilot, on sorties deep into Nazi-occupied Europe, and returned from the war on the Queen Elizabeth, covered in medals—including the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal.
For LIFE magazine’s September 24, 1945, cover story, photographer Peter Stackpole followed Stewart around his Pennsylvania hometown, chronicling the unsurprisingly wholesome goings-on when the Hollywood star returned home a hero.
Not published in LIFE. Jimmy Stewart and his dad outside the family hardware store, Indiana, Pa., 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesThirty-seven-year-old Jimmy Stewart sits down at the table with (clockwise from left) his younger sister Mary, his mother Elizabeth, his father Alexander, and his other younger sister, Virginia, 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJimmy Stewart, home from the war, helps clear the table at his parents' house, 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJimmy Stewart chats with George Little, the oldest employee in his father's hardware store, 1945. Besides all the usual hardware goods, the store also boasted Jimmy's Philadelphia Story Oscar on display.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesWhile his father chats with a customer at the hardware store, a uniformed Jimmy Stewart sets up a date to go fishing, 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Jimmy Stewart on the phone at his father's hardware store, 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJimmy Stewart goes fishing with his old friend Clyde "Woodie" Woodward, 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Jimmy Stewart and friend, Indiana, Pa., 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. The house where Jimmy Stewart grew up in Indiana, Pa., about 50 miles from Pittsburgh, seen in 1945. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesThe movie star and war vet Jimmy Stewart signs autographs for local girls, Indiana, Pa., 1945. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Col. Jimmy Stewart, 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. "Jimmy kids his father about the old days. His sister Mary (center on swing) is an artist and is married to a chaplain in the Navy. His other sister Virginia (left) is a magazine writer and is married to Artist Alexis Tiranoff, now in the Army."Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Jimmy Stewart plays a tune with his sister Virgina, 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJames Stewart looks in his family's hardware store window and spots a model plane he'd built years earlier, 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesIn 1945, Jimmy Stewart eyes a stuffed squirrel he'd shot years earlier. The creature was only "slightly moldy," LIFE reported.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesVisiting his hometown in 1945, Col. Jimmy Stewart plays with a pair of puppets he made when he was seven years old. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Jimmy Stewart entertains some local children, Indiana, Pa., 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJimmy Stewart takes out his father's horse and shay, 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesMagician Bill Neff wasn't just a friend of Stewart's; he once provided Jimmy with a summer job, when they "took a tour as magicians."Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJames Stewart, back home after serving in World War II, reads in bed at his parents' house, Indiana, Pa., 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Col. James Stewart: movie star, war hero, Indiana, Pa., 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
