General Joseph “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell
Graduating West Point in 1904, Stilwell later taught at West Point, and attended the Infantry Advanced Course and the Command and General Staff College.
During World War I, he was the U.S. Fourth Corps intelligence officer and helped plan the St. Mihiel offensive.
He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his service in France.
He is often remembered by his sobriquet, "Vinegar Joe", which he acquired while a commander at Fort Benning, Georgia. Stilwell often gave harsh critiques of performance in field exercises, and a subordinate – stung by Joe's caustic remarks – drew a caricature of Stilwell rising out of a vinegar bottle.
After discovering the caricature, Stilwell pinned it to a board and had the drawing photographed and distributed to friends.
Yet another indication of his view of life was the motto he kept on his desk: Illegitimi non carborundum, a form of fractured Latin that translates as "Don't let the bastards grind you down."
Between the wars, Stilwell served three tours in China, where he mastered spoken and written Chinese, and was the military attaché at the U.S. Legation in Beijing from 1935 to 1939.
In 1939 and 1940 he was assistant commander of the 2nd Infantry Division and from 1940 to 1941 organized and trained the 7th Infantry Division at Fort Ord, California.
It was there that his leadership style – which emphasized concern for the average soldier and minimized ceremonies and officious discipline – earned him the nickname of "Uncle Joe."
Just prior to World War II, Stilwell was recognized as the top corps commander in the Army and was initially selected to plan and command the Allied invasion of North Africa. When it became necessary to send a senior officer to China to keep that country in the War, Stilwell was selected, over his personal objections, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his old friend, Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall.
He became the Chief of Staff to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, served as US commander in the China Burma India Theater, was responsible for all Lend-Lease supplies going to China, and was later Deputy Commander of South East Asia Command. Despite his status and position in China, he became involved in conflicts with other senior Allied officers, over the distribution of Lend-Lease materiel, Chinese political sectarianism and proposals to incorporate Chinese and US forces in the 11th Army Group.
Following a three month furlough, on 24 January 1945 Stilwell assumed command of the Army Ground Forces, with it headquarters at the Pentagon, overseeing all mobilization and training of Army ground units in the United States.
On 23 June 1945, following the death of Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner, Jr. on 18 June, Stilwell was appointed as Commander of the Tenth United States Army, shortly after the end of Japanese resistance in the Battle of Okinawa.
The Tenth Army was disbanded on 15 October 1945 following the surrender of Japan.In November, Stilwell was appointed to lead a "War Department Equipment Board" in an investigation of the Army's modernization in light of its recent experience. Among his recommendations was the establishment of a combined arms force to conduct extended service tests of new weapons and equipment and then formulate doctrine for its use, and the abolition of specialized anti-tank units.
His most notable recommendation was for a vast improvement of the Army's defenses against all airborne threats, including ballistic missiles. In particular, he called for "guided interceptor missiles, dispatched in accordance with electronically computed data obtained from radar detection stations.
On 1 March 1946, Stilwell assumed command of the 6th Army with its headquarters at the Presidio of San Francisco. The 6th Army had been reorganized as an administrative command in charge of Army units in the western United States. In May 1946, Stilwell and his former subordinate Frank Merrill led two Marine platoons in suppressing the prison uprising known as the Battle of Alcatraz.
Joseph Stilwell died after surgery for stomach cancer on October 12, 1946, at the Presidio of San Francisco, while still on active duty and five months short of reaching the Army's mandatory retirement age of 64. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered on the Pacific Ocean, and a cenotaph was placed at the West Point Cemetery. Among his military decorations are the Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Legion of Merit degree of Commander, the Bronze Star, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
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