Captain Amos went on to fly a total of 34 combat missions in the B-52F over South Vietnam and later 126 missions in the F-105D, including 100 missions over North Vietnam. He retired as a colonel from the U.S. Air Force in 1984, after 26-plus years with a total of 5,094 flying hours. In his last flying assignment, as the director of operations of the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., he commanded two B-52H Squadrons, and a K-135A and RC-135 Squadron.

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Amos still fondly recalls the B-52 mission and close call he had with Jimmy Stewart. “It was a great experience and an honor to have Brig. Gen. Stewart fly with us. He was truly the same gentleman in person as he had portrayed in his many films!”

Brigadier General Jimmy Stewart retired from the Air Force Reserve in 1968, but his Vietnam War experience wasn’t over. In June 1969, Stewart’s 24-year-old stepson, Marine 1st Lt. Ronald McLean, was killed in action when his unit was ambushed while on a reconnaissance patrol near the DMZ.

Warren Thompson has been researching and writing on military aviation history for 40 years and has conducted hundreds of interviews and amassed a collection of thousands of photographs from World War II through Desert Storm.

Jimmy Stewart lost his stepson, Marine 1st Lt. Ron McLean, when the young man was killed in an ambush in the DMZ. Click here to read the story.

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