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Ruth | 21 | Indonesian
...You don't hold any mystery to me, darling
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Do you mind?
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Hold out, Coop, I’m coming.
A Fine Bromance | 6 |
↳ Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart
We soon found that Major Stewart was no dumb figurehead. He was a gentlemen and a very capable officer. Most important, he was a very good, well-informed pilot. He began giving the morning briefings immediately, and he spoke in that same low-key voice to which he had grown accustomed to in his movies. Interestingly, he flew his share of the missions irrespective of the target. It appeared to many of us the team of Potts and Stewart had brought an esprit de corps to the 453rd which heretofore had been absent. Major Stewart flew a great deal in the morning assemblies to insure that our formations were satisfactory. This was a difficult task due to the fact that we had a high turnover in combat crews. Even so, morale was unusually high and much of it was due to a very down-to-earth Jimmy Stewart.
Colonel Bieck, remembering how things changed when Jimmy was transferred to the 453rd Bombardment Group
Carole Lombard and James Stewart behind the scenes of Made for Each Other, 1939
Fear is an insidious and deadly thing. It can warp judgment, freeze reflexes, breed mistakes. Worse, it’s contagious. I knew that my own fear, if not checked, could infect my crew members.
Jimmy Stewart, from Air Classics magazine, May 1993
Jimmy pictured with the 703rd Squadron, in front of a B-24 Liberator. He is fourth from the left, standing up.
Sergeant Robbie Robinson remembers:
Cross and I stopped by the finance building to see why we had not received our pay. The finance officer told us that he had not had the time to get to our pay records. He said, “You’re not going anywhere. Come back next week.”
We both walked out of the building, grumbling to ourselves about not getting paid. We walked down the road, still grumbling. We ran into Jimmy Stewart. He must have noticed our expressions.
“How are you fellas doing?” Captain Stewart asked us. Cross said, “Captain Stewart, we were just at finance to see why we had not been paid and the finance officer told us to come back next week. He didn’t have time to pay us.” Stewart said, “You didn’t get paid the first of December?” “No, sir,” we chimed. “Well, now. Come on and we’ll find out why he doesn’t have time to pay you,” Stewart said. We started walking briskly, side by side. Stewart had long legs and we had to almost run to keep up.
We all walked into office together. With a clearing of his throat, Stewart said to the lieutenant behind the desk, “Why hasn’t Lieutenant Wright’s crew been paid?” The lieutenant said, “They will be paid, sir, but it will take a few days to get to it.” Captain Stewart put his hand to his chin and started rubbing it. Then he said, “Lieutenant, we just don’t have a few days. I believe we out to pay them right now. Not in a few days. I mean kinda like, right now — in the next thirty minutes.” Stewart looked at the lieutenant and then at us. He said to the lieutenant, “I will be back here in a little while, and, you know — if Lieutenant Wright’s crew isn’t paid by then, I believe that we will just have to find a new finance lieutenant for this one will be on his way out of here to the Infantry.
Stewart told us, “Stick around a few minutes. I think he is going to pay you now.” Cross and I said quietly, “Thank you, sir.” He halfway returned our sharp salute and said, “I’ll see you around fellas.” Then he walked out of the finance office.
The finance lieutenant said for us to sign a piece of paper. He gave us a month’s pay. “Tell the other members of your crew to come by here as quickly possible and get their pay,” he said. We took the money, signed the paper and got ourselves out of there.
We rushed back to the hut and told everyone to get over to finance and pick up their money. We all were beginning to this Jimmy Stewart was really an all right guy.
— Taken from Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot by Starr Smith
“I think he’s probably the best actor who’s ever hit the screen.”
