For all the fans of "It's a Wonderful Life" and Jimmy Stewart....

(Author credit; Ned Forney, Writer, Saluting American’s Veteran’s)

Just months after winning his 1941 Academy Award for best actor in “The Philadelphia Story,” Jimmy Stewart, one of the best-known actors of the day, left Hollywood and joined the US Army. He was the first big-name movie star to enlist in World War II.

An accomplished private pilot, the 33-year-old Hollywood icon became a US Army Air Force aviator, earning his 2nd Lieutenant commission in early 1942. With his celebrity status and huge popularity with the American public, he was assigned to starring in recruiting films, attending rallies, and training younger pilots.

Stewart, however, wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to fly combat missions in Europe, not spend time in a stateside training command. By 1944, frustrated and feeling the war was passing him by, he asked his commanding officer to transfer him to a unit deploying to Europe. His request was reluctantly granted.

Stewart, now a Captain, was sent to England, where he spent the next 18 months flying B-24 Liberator bombers over Germany. Throughout his time overseas, the US Army Air Corps' top brass had tried to keep the popular movie star from flying over enemy territory. But Stewart would hear nothing of it.

Determined to lead by example, he bucked the system, assigning himself to every combat mission he could. By the end of the war he was one of the most respected and decorated pilots in his unit.

But his wartime service came at a high personal price.

In the final months of WWII he was grounded for being “flak happy,” today called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

When he returned to the US in August 1945, Stewart was a changed man. He had lost so much weight that he looked sickly. He rarely slept, and when he did he had nightmares of planes exploding and men falling through the air screaming (in one mission alone his unit had lost 13 planes and 130 men, most of whom he knew personally).

He was depressed, couldn’t focus, and refused to talk to anyone about his war experiences. His acting career was all but over.

As one of Stewart's biographers put it, "Every decision he made [during the war] was going to preserve life or cost lives. He took back to Hollywood all the stress that he had built up.”

In 1946 he got his break. He took the role of George Bailey, the suicidal father in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The rest is history.

Actors and crew of the set realized that in many of the disturbing scenes of George Bailey unraveling in front of his family, Stewart wasn’t acting. His PTSD was being captured on filmed for potentially millions to see.

But despite Stewart's inner turmoil, making the movie was therapeutic for the combat veteran. He would go on to become one of the most accomplished and loved actors in American history.

When asked in 1941 why he wanted to leave his acting career to fly combat missions over Nazi Germany, he said, "This country's conscience is bigger than all the studios in Hollywood put together, and the time will come when we'll have to fight.”

This weekend, as many of us watch the classic Christmas film, “It’s A Wonderful Life,” it’s also a fitting time to remember the sacrifices of Jimmy Stewart and all the men who gave up so much to serve their country during wartime. We will always remember you!

Postscript:
While fighting in Europe, Stewart's Oscar statue was proudly displayed in his father’s Pennsylvania hardware store. Throughout his life, the beloved actor always said his father, a World War I veteran, was the person who had made the biggest impact on him.

Jimmy Stewart was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985 and died in 1997 at the age of 89.


From "A Wonderful Life"
Photo credit: RKO Radio Pictures

Jimmy Stewart receiving an award from the French government.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Chosen by God....

George Takei.....

This is spot on......sadly.

UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED FACT: Grass is green.

TRUMP: *tweets* Grass iz purpil.

EVERYONE WHO HAS EYES: Is he saying that grass is purple? Um, no it’s not. It’s green.

FOX NEWS: Grass is purple.

CNN: Breaking news: New debate rages about whether grass is green or purple.

EVERYONE: I’m sorry, what? Grass is green. There’s no debate.

CNN: Well we have to be fair and legitimize both sides.

EVERYONE: Grass is green. There is no other side.

TRUMP: *addresses news media on White House lawn*

REPORTER: What about the green grass that you’re literally standing on?

TRUMP: You’re very rude. The fake news media is very unfair to me!

TRUMP BASE: *chanting* Grass is purple! Grass is purple!

KELLYANNE: The democrats are trying to shove green grass down your throats because they’re all SOCIALISTS.

RUSSIAN TROLL ONLINE: Hillary Clinton has child slaves underneath a pizza parlor in Queens stealing everyone’s purple grass and painting it green.

TRUMP: *retweets Russian troll*

NEWS MEDIA: *legitimizes retweet by airing footage of it all day*

TUCKER: The Democrats are coming for your grass! 2nd amendment!!!

JIM JORDAN: *screaming* THEY HAVE NO PROOF WHATSOEVER THAT GRASS IS GREEN! NONE!

SCIENTISTS: Um, actually, we have irrefutable scientific proo...

JIM JORDAN: *screaming louder than all the scientists* NONE!!

HANNITY: Anybody that tells you grass is green is part of the deep state.

YOU: But grass IS green.

YOUR GRANDMOTHER AT THANKSGIVING DINNER: Are you part of the deep stage?

YOUR COUSIN IN PENSACOLA: *posts Breitbart meme on Facebook of cartoon frog smoking purple grass*

TRUMP: *tweets* Deep state! Socialists! 2nd amendment! I saw green grass the other day but it was artificial turf! That’s proof that all green grass is FAKE!

NEW YORK TIMES HEADLINE: Grass still green.

NOBODY: *reads newspapers*

RNC: *already mass producing purple hats with clever 2020 re-election slogan all made in China*

CHINA: *laughing in Chinese* Americans are assholes.

BARR: The report states that Trump is totally exonerated.

EVERYONE: There is no report.

LANDSCAPER IN INDIANA: It’s against my religious beliefs to plant green grass.

TRUMP: *already onto the next scandal*

EVERYONE: Oh for fucks sake. Sure. Grass is purple. This is too fucking exhausting. Who cares anymore.

UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED FACT: Grass is now both green and purple at the exact same time.

PLANET EARTH: *heats up to the point where grass no longer exists*

This right here is what we're up against....taken from Facebook

Zach Hintze breaks school record with 62-yard field goal

At our home game and senior day, Zach Hintze breaks the University of Wisconsin-Madison school record with a 62 yard field goal....I used to babysit his father Dan, and his aunts and uncles! What a kick!

I could not have said this any more eloquently! 😂

Introducing Soup, apparently one of John Lennon

Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton’s favorite bands and the band was from the Wisconsin Fox Valley area! Back in the early ‘70’s Clapton heard Doug Yankus (lead guitarist) play in Milwaukee and remarked he was “one of the most versatile guitarist he had ever heard”. My bestie and I saw them many times in our hometown and surrounding towns. We knew them and they were exceptional! I’ve been assured this photo has not been altered or photoshopped.....



My favorite Soup track...

Poetic Justice....

Brace Yourselves!