Major General Jimmy Stewart 

That's amazing!

You were a lucky man.

@@AirForceReserveRecruiting I would have done the same!

@@AirForceReserveRecruiting Can you guys please audit this video and remove or amend it if you find that he was, in fact, not a Major General? That should be easy enough to verify. You have historians in the USAF, right?

@@AirForceReserveRecruiting, I followed up with the Regan Library, and Jimmy Stewart's papers at BYU. They have no record of any promotion or the legislative waiver that would be a prerequisite for this. No bills were passed that entire decade that would accomplish this (I searched ProQuest). Reagan held a press conference and recounted that Stewart corrected him and said he was only a BG, but let the false claim continue during the entire 1980 campaign trail because he liked being called by the higher rank. Then Reagan told an author that he was subsequently promoted to MG, despite the fact that this wasn't true (possibly early Alzheimer's?). Anyway, this claim obviously came from Wikipedia, where I think you got it from, and then Wikipedia cited the AF as support for the incorrect claim. It's a lesson in why you shouldn't rely on claims from Wikipedia.

my dad was in the baes with him

I have s B-52 book with him walking away from an F model he flew on a mission in Vietnam

No, he wasn't promoted in retirement. I checked with the Reagan Library, and they have no record of this, and verified that his medal of freedom did not also include a promotion (which was the claim). His bio on the AF Museum, his own museum, and his papers at BYU all say brig. gen. No authorization was ever passed for such a promotion, which is a prerequisite.

Adding my recommendation of "Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot"! A true hero, when the word actually meant "hero" and not celebrity or figurehead. The book goes to great lengths to show Jimmy's multiple requests and denials for a combat posting. God rest this American's soul!

President Reagan gave him his Second star long after he retired and a side note he only retired because he had met mandatory retirement age President Reagan also gave Jimmy Doolittle another star for he service in the old days they call it a tombstone promotion in the military but no extra money in retirement and did not have to approval from the hill to do it

@@fastone942 Also, it was Stewart who lobbied Reagan for the promotion of Doolittle. SASC chairman Barry Goldwater introduced legislation to authorize this, but when it failed to pass Reagan just promoted Doolittle and Eaker without authorization, which probably made this unlawful. See the article that I just published on this, through Air University: www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/ASOR/Journals/Volume-1_Number-4/Mears.pdf

​@@fastone942 Suggest reading the article if you want to understand this, since you are objectively wrong. I interviewed at least five USAF general officers involved in the Doolittle promotion. I also discussed with the former head of USAF legislative liaison, and a federal judge who was the USAF general counsel at that time. Barry Goldwater recorded that he ignored this requirement in the introduction he wrote for Doolittle's biography, as well as in his own papers at the University of Arizona.

No, that's incorrect. It appears that the USAF grabbed that claim from Wikipedia without verifying it (which then cited the USAF as support for the claim--yes, really). There is no evidence that Stewart was ever promoted. The claim was that he was promoted contemporaneously with his Medal of Freedom award in 1985, which can easily be disproven because there is a video on RU-vid of that presentation, and the Reagan Library also has the transcript (and no records of any promotion, which would be well documented if Reagan presided over it). Further, the USAF Museum, the Jimmy Stewart Museum, and the Stewart papers at BYU have no record of any promotion. Lastly, there was no congressional waiver passed for the promotion (I searched that entire decade in ProQuest). You cannot promote someone without a bill authorizing it, even an honorary promotion. So if it did happen, it would've been unlawful.

My father was drafted in Oct. 41 with another man, Louis Greenbaum, who was a lawyer! Near the end of the war in 1945, Greenbaum was seen in Wash.D.C. & was a Colonel!

@@rongendron8705 Interesting. Was Greenbaum drafted in as a private?

Not weird at all. It was wartime. Look to history of 8th Airforce.Trmendous losses over Germany.. vacancy must be filled.. Time in service and time in grade didn't really matter anymore Hell Audie Murphy comes to mind..

Jimmy Stewart retired as a Major General. He was one of the finest men whoever walked on this earth. Married one time until death. How often does that happen in Hollywood?

Army Air Corps.

@@GratefulPerson1956 Brigadier General. The MG claim was circular and probably originated from Wikipedia--it was actually citing this video as evidence it was true.

See this record where Stewart privately corrected Reagan after he had him introduced as a MG: www.google.com/books/edition/Weekly_Compilation_of_Presidential_Docum/1H88fiQuV0IC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=jimmy%20stewart%20%22major%20general%22&pg=RA20-PA4&printsec=frontcover&fbclid=IwAR1qgtA4y5qFydxk0Sf0ynoewRTiRB9h1ZhMR0V6f69z440Mvp_BXp8X6l8

It was either Randolph AFB, or Brooks AFB in San Antonio--we have / had both. My guess was he was at Randolph AFB--I live down the street from it. Though he could have been stationed at Brooks AFB if he was there in the '50's or '60's, or for training in the '40's. If it was in the '40's it would have been Randolph Feild or Brooks Feild (US Army Air Corps/Force) back then.

bionicsjw Wikipedia is not a trusted source by true research librarians.

@@franksvoboda9756 No, you are correct regarding Wikipedia; however, the National Museum of The US Air Force also identifies General Stewart as a one-star, Brigadier. Nonetheless, it does appear that General Stewart was promoted to Major General in 1985, on the retired list. Wikipedia does point this out as well. It is surprising how things conflict here.

@@zingwilder9989, what happened is that someone stuck the claim on Wikipedia, it was picked up by the USAF, the claim was removed, and then added back to Wikipedia citing the USAF. I just removed it again last week, citing the absence of any evidence that this promotion took place. I check with the Reagan Library, the Stewart papers at BYU, the Stewart Museum, and also searched for authorization of a promotion (there was nothing passed permitting this in the 1980s). That, and the discovery that Reagan was corrected on the rank by Stewart, who told him he was only a BG. Apparently Stewart allowed the Reagan campaign to falsely introduce him as a major general during his campaign for governor of CA in the 1960s. Then Reagan believed Stewart was later promoted and misrepresented this to another author well after these events. So it's very possible that these misrepresentations contributed to the mistaken belief.

@@dwightmears810 Thank you, Maj. Mears, for clearing this issue up. I remember reading that Mr. Stewart did correct Mr. Reagan on that account. Nonetheless, as you indicated, he (Mr. Stewart) allowed it to continue. Personally, I don't think he was attempting to embellish, as he may have simply felt it to be irrelevant. However, it did lead to this misinformation. I also recall reading about the controversy that happened when he was promoted to O-7 (1959), in the Reserves, by President Eisenhower. Lastly, I read a "Stars and Stripes" article back in 1982 or 83, focused on an older Army CW4, helicopter pilot, that had once been an Air Force B-52 pilot. Apparently he lost his commission due to the lack of formal education. This gentleman discussed that he had flown with Gen. Stewart on a Continental US training mission, in the bomber. I found it to be an interesting note.

@@zingwilder9989, I'm ambivalent, because it looks like Stewart intentionally withheld correcting Reagan in public, because he liked the higher rank. Of course, we only have that from Reagan, whose memory was notoriously terrible. Incidentally, my dissertation (funded substantially by the Army) was on the Army Air Forces, and covered Stewart peripherally, in a case study about the court martial of a lead pilot and navigator who accidentally bombed Zurich. Stewart was the presiding officer in the court martial. One of my dissertation committee members was also the former chief historian of the USAF.

Actualy B-24's

@@daleferber2096 B 24s, thanks for that. I didn't know.

John Wayne tried , but with all his kids , was told no. according to his autobiography.

why its no honour

Perhaps fratricide was not something they wished to dabble with? No more brother wars.

John Wayne was to old . The same with President Reagan.

@@steveb6103 sorry no he was not, john wayne 1907, 34 was not too old and Reagan (1911) served, have you heard of google?

Not true. He retired as a Major General.

That is an out right lie! John Wayne was in Hollywood long before WWII started. He was older. He had performed most, if not all his own stunts in those days before Hollywood was even a name. As a direct result of his stunts, he suffered numerous injuries. Those exact injuries caused Wayne not too be accepted in any of the branches of service. He was rated a 4F. Thus he couldn't join the fight. However, what he did in terms of "War Bonds" was epic. He along with many of his regular cast mates, joined in the effort to raise money, awareness and patriotism for the United States of America. He did this through his movies and his many upon many appearances. His injuries, during filming his numerous cowboy movies, kept him out of the fight, but his patriotism won him a huge following. In reality, the Duke served the United States of America in the only way he could. For that, he is a bona fide hero in every sense of the word......... KB🇺🇸

Promoted Major General on the retired list by President Reagan. Awarded Medal of Freedom by the President also. 🙂

@@robertwarn9756 researched TR jr for many years and, have never heard about Reagan medal of freedom, etc.

One Star to Two Star is like going from Airman Basic to Colonel!

@@robertwarn9756, sorry, that's incorrect. He was only a Brigadier General, per all published sources, and his own OMPF. His final promotion is here: catalog.archives.gov/OpaAPI/media/40938631/content/st-louis/military/rg-342/30479766/Stewart_James_M-PEP_Page_111.jpg