​Almanac: James Stewart

And now a page from our "Sunday Morning" Almanac: March 22, 1941, 74 years ago today ... the day one of Hollywood's most popular actors took on a challenging new role.

For that was the day Jimmy Stewart was drafted into the military at the age of 32.

By then, he had appeared in more than 30 films, including "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

An amateur pilot in his own right, Stewart was assigned to the Army Air Corps (as the Air Force was then known).

By 1942 the U.S. was at war, and Stewart was an Air Corps Lieutenant . . . and the star of a new film appealing to young men to sign up ("Fellas, shake hands with Mr. B-17 and a few of his big brothers. A few thousand of these babies will win this war for us!").

Stewart flew 20 combat missions over Europe during the war. He went on to serve more than 20 years in the Air Force Reserve, retiring with the rank of Brigadier General.

He resumed his Hollywood film career after the war, with occasional echoes of his days in uniform and in the skies.

In 1954's "The Glenn Miller Story," he played the legendary leader of the Army Air Force Band, who died in a plane crash over the English Channel at Christmastime 1944.

And in the 1957 film "The Spirit of St. Louis," he played aviation hero Charles Lindbergh, making his landmark solo flight across the Atlantic.

The Motion Picture Academy honored Jimmy Stewart with a Best Actor award in 1941, and an honorary Oscar in 1985. He died in 1997 at the age of 89, but his spirit lives on ... both in his films, and in the enthusiasm of countless pilots who have followed in his path.

To watch the 1942 Army Air Corps recruitment film "Winning Your Wings," starring Lieutenant James Stewart and co-directed by John Huston, click on the video player below.