Joseph Stilwell facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joseph Stilwell
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| Nickname(s) | "Vinegar Joe", "Uncle Joe" |
| Born | March 19, 1883 Palatka, Florida |
| Died | October 12, 1946 (aged 63) San Francisco, California |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/ |
United States Army |
| Years of service | 1904–1946 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands held | 7th Infantry Division III Corps China Burma India Theater Chinese Expeditionary Force (Burma) Chinese Army in India Northern Combat Area Command Army Ground Forces Tenth United States Army Sixth United States Army Western Defense Command |
| Battles/wars | World War I
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| Awards | Distinguished Service Cross Army Distinguished Service Medal (2) Legion of Merit Bronze Star Medal |
| Other work | Chief of Staff to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek |
Joseph Warren Stilwell (March 19, 1883 – October 12, 1946) was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India Theater during World War II. An early American popular hero of the war for leading a column walking out of Burma pursued by victorious Japanese forces, his implacable demands for units debilitated by disease to be sent into heavy combat resulted in Merrill's Marauders becoming disenchanted with him. Infuriated by the 1944 fall of Changsha to a Japanese offensive, Stilwell threatened Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek that lend-lease aid to China would be cut off which led Ambassador Patrick J. Hurley to decide Stilwell had to be replaced. Chiang had been intent on keeping lend-Lease supplies to fight the communists, but Stilwell had been obeying his instructions to get Chinese communists and nationalists to co-operate against Japan.
Influential voices such as journalist Brooks Atkinson viewed the Chinese Communists as benign and Stilwell as a victim of a corrupt regime. The ousting of Stilwell sparked the beginning of anti-Chiang feeling by US policymakers that culminated in the 1947 end of American assistance to Chinese Nationalist forces during the Chinese Civil War.
Stilwell's admirers saw him as having been given so few resources and responsibilities that his task was virtually impossible. His critics viewed him as a hard-charging but ultimately-unprofessional officer whose failings contributed to the loss of China.
Images for kids
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then-Lt. Col. Stilwell as Assistant Chief of Staff, IV Army Corps, October 1918 in France.
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Gen. Frank Merrill (left) with Stilwell in Burma
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Stilwell marches out of Burma, May 1942
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Stilwell with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling
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Stilwell awarding medals at Myitkyina, 1944
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A bust of Stilwell at the "Former Residence of General Stilwell" Museum in Chongqing
