Jimmy Stewart was a MAN - compare his war record to John Wayne's for example.
Like you said, Stewart actively sought combat duty and flew in some of the hairiest bombing raids of WWII - I'm almost positive he was on the schweinfurt raid. He was the first major star to put on the uniform in WWII when he enlisted and he continued to fly as a reservist long after WWII. He even flew on a B-52 mission in Vietnam. He ended his military service as a brigadier general.
I remember living in a great country...