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SunTzu_vs_Camus
He flew Bomber missions in WWII.
.....
Stewart flew as lead pilot in B-24 Liberators.
Stewart’s war record included 20 combat missions as command pilot over enemy territory,
including raids deep into Germany to Berlin. He didn't fly the milk runs, and his missions
included bombing raids to Berlin, Brunswick, Bremen, Frankfurt, and Schweinfurt. His most
memorable mission, Stewart served as the flight leader of a 1000 plain raid to Berlin. He was
awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Air Medal with three
Oak Leaf Clusters, and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm.
By the end of the war he had risen to the rank of Colonel. After the war he remained with the
US Air Force Reserves and was eventually promoted to Brigadier General in 1959. In 1966, he
participated in a bombing strike in Vietnam, as an observer on a B-52 bomber. He retired from
the Air Force in 1968 and received the Distinguished Service Medal and ultimately, the
Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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Many actors fought....
Clark Gable flew (I think more of a depression/death-wish after his wife Carol Lombard died)
Lee Marvin was wounded(buttocks) at Iwo Jima with the Marines.
...many actors EXCEPT the most iconic action hero of them all.......John Wayne John Wayne?!!!
How does he NOT go. Big surprise that guy!
On top of it Stewart did not have to fly a number of his WW2 missions. He deliberately assigned himself to a lot of those runs. From the wiki:
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Stewart was concerned that his expertise and celebrity status would relegate him to instructor duties "behind the lines." His fears were confirmed when, after his promotion to first lieutenant on July 7, 1942, he was stationed from August to December 1942 at Kirtland Army Airfield in Albuquerque, New Mexico, piloting AT-11 Kansans used in training bombardiers. He was transferred to Hobbs Army Airfield, New Mexico, for three months of transition training in the four-engine B-17 Flying Fortress, then sent to the Combat Crew Processing Center in Salt Lake City, where he expected to be assigned to a combat unit. Instead, he was assigned in early 1943 to an operational training unit, the 29th Bombardment Group at Gowen Field, Boise, Idaho, as an instructor. He was promoted to captain on July 9, 1943, and appointed a squadron commander. To Stewart, now 35, combat duty seemed far away and unreachable, and he had no clear plans for the future. However, a rumor that Stewart would be taken off flying status and assigned to making training films or selling bonds called for immediate action, because what he dreaded most was "the hope-shattering spectre of a dead end." Stewart appealed to his commander, 30-year-old Lt. Col. Walter E. Arnold Jr., who understood his situation and recommended Stewart to the commander of the 445th Bombardment Group, a B-24 Liberator unit that had just completed initial training at Gowen Field and gone on to final training at Sioux City Army Air Base, Iowa.
In August 1943, Stewart was assigned to the 445th Bomb Group as operations officer of the 703d Bombardment Squadron, but after three weeks became its commander. On October 12, 1943, judged ready to go overseas. After several weeks of training missions, in which Stewart flew with most of his combat crews, the group flew its first combat mission on December 13, 1943, to bomb the U-boat facilities at Kiel, Germany, followed three days later by a mission to Bremen. Stewart led the high squadron of the group formation on the first mission, and the entire group on the second.Following a mission to Ludwigshafen, Germany, on January 7, 1944, Stewart was promoted to major. Stewart was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions as deputy commander of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing on the first day of "Big Week" operations in February and flew two other missions that week.
On March 22, 1944, Stewart flew his 12th combat mission, leading the 2nd Bomb Wing in an attack on Berlin. On March 30, 1944, he was sent to RAF Old Buckenham to become group operations officer of the 453rd Bombardment Group, a new B-24 unit that had just lost both its commander and operations officer on missions.To inspire the unit, Stewart flew as command pilot in the lead B-24 on several missions deep into Nazi-occupied Europe. As a staff officer, Stewart was assigned to the 453rd "for the duration" and thus not subject to a quota of missions of a combat tour. He nevertheless assigned himself as a combat crewman on the group's missions until his promotion to lieutenant colonel on June 3 and reassignment on July 1, 1944, to the 2nd Bomb Wing, assigned as executive officer to Brigadier General Edward J. Timberlake. His official tally of mission credits while assigned to the 445th and 453rd Bomb Groups was 20 sorties.
Stewart continued to go on missions uncredited, flying with the pathfinder squadron of the 389th Bombardment Group, with his two former groups and with groups of the 20th Combat Bomb Wing. He received a second award of the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He also received the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters. Stewart served in a number of staff positions in the 2nd and 20th Bomb Wings between July 1944 and the end of the war in Europe, and was promoted to full colonel on March 29, 1945. On May 10, 1945, he succeeded to command of the 2nd Bomb Wing, a position he held until June 15.Stewart was one of the few Americans to rise from private to colonel in four years.
