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When he left Hollywood in March 1941, Jimmy Stewart was America's
boy next door movie star and a recent Academy Award winner. He left
all that behind to join the United States Army Air Corps and
fulfill his family mission to serve his country—only to face
obstacle after obstacle from both Hollywood and Washington. Finally
he made his way to the European Theater, where several near-death
experiences and the loss of men under his command took away his
youthful good looks. The war finally won, he returned home with
millions of other veterans to face an uncertain future, suffering
what we now know as PTSD. For the next half century, Stewart
refused to discuss his combat experiences and took the story of his
service to the grave. Mission presents the first in-depth look at
Stewart's life as a Squadron Commander in the skies over Germany,
from takeoff to landing and every key moment in between. Author
Robert Matzen sifted through thousands of Air Force combat reports
and the Stewart personnel files; interviewed surviving aviators who
flew with Stewart; visited the James Stewart Papers at Brigham
Young University; flew in the cockpits of the B-17 Flying Fortress
and B-24 Liberator; and walked the earth of air bases in England
used by Stewart in his combat missions of 1943-45. What emerges in
Mission is the story of a Jimmy Stewart you never knew until now, a
story more fantastic than any he brought to the screen.
Twenty-five years after her passing, Audrey Hepburn remains the
most beloved of all Hollywood stars, known as much for her role as
UNICEF ambassador as for films like Roman Holiday and Breakfast at
Tiffany's. Several biographies have chronicled her stardom, but
none has covered her intense experiences through five years of Nazi
occupation in the Netherlands. According to her son, Luca Dotti,
"The war made my mother who she was." Audrey Hepburn's war included
participation in the Dutch Resistance, working as a doctor's
assistant during the "Bridge Too Far" battle of Arnhem, the brutal
execution of her uncle, and the ordeal of the Hunger Winter of
1944. She also had to contend with the fact that her father was a
Nazi agent and her mother was pro-Nazi for the first two years of
the occupation. But the war years also brought triumphs as Audrey
became Arnhem's most famous young ballerina. Audrey's own
reminiscences, new interviews with people who knew her in the war,
wartime diaries, and research in classified Dutch archives shed
light on the riveting, untold story of Audrey Hepburn under fire in
World War II. Also included is a section of color and
black-and-white photos. Many of these images are from Audrey's
personal collection and are published here for the first time.
This fresh look at Hollywood's "Queen of Screwball,"
Carole Lombard, presents a first-ever examination of the events
that led to the shocking flight mishap that took her life on the
side of a Nevada mountain in 1942. It also provides a day-by-day
account of the struggles of Lombard's husband, Clark Gable, and
other family, friends, and fans to cope with the tragedy. In
effect, having just completed the first sale of war bonds and
stamps in the nation following its entry into World War II, Lombard
became the first Hollywood start to sacrifice her life in the War.
The War Department offered Gable a funeral service with full
military honors, but he refused it, knowing that his wife would not
approve of such spectacle. Based on extensive research rather than
gossip, this investigation further explores the lives of the
21 others on the plane, including 15 members of the U.S. Army Air
Corps, and addresses one of the most enduring mysteries of World
War II. On a clear night full of stars, with TWA's most experienced
pilot at the controls of a 10-month-old aircraft under the power of
two fully functioning engines, why did the flight crash
into that Nevada mountainside? This gripping page-turner presents
the story of the people on the plane, the friends and families left
behind, and the heroic first responders who struggled up a mountain
hoping to perform a miracle rescue. It is a story of
accomplishment, bravery, sacrifice, and loss.
Carole Lombard was among the most commercially successfuly and
admired film personalities in Hollywood in the 1930s. Carole
Lombard includes a biography which brings to life this vivacious,
unconventional woman, who showed fortitude in the face of personal
hardships such as the automobile accident that scarred her face at
age eighteen. The bibliography that follows is comprehensive in
scope, the most ambitious to date; it contains citations for
anonymous and attributed magazine articles, books, and films. Full
text reprints of a revealing interview for "Motion Picture"
magazine and her only published article provide interesting views
of Lombard. The never before published Civil Aeronautics Board
investigative report of the airplane crash in which she died,
fifteen previously unpublished photographs, and detailed
examination of many articles, biographies, and film history books
that deal with some aspect of her life and/or career make this
bio-bibliography an excellent resource.
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