page_title: Joseph Stilwell
section_title: Military career prior to World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Joseph Stilwell / Military career prior to World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: Lt. Colonel Joseph W. Stillwell, Ass. C of S G-2, 4th Army Corps, Boucq, Meurthe et Moselle, France
context_page_description: Joseph Warren Stilwell was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India Theater during World War II. His caustic personality was reflected in the nickname "Vinegar Joe".
  Distrust of his Allies and a lack of resources meant Stilwell was continually forced to improvise. He famously differed as to strategy, ground troops versus air power, with his subordinate, Claire Chennault, who had the ear of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. General George Marshall, the Army Chief of Staff, acknowledged he had given Stilwell "one of the most difficult" assignments of any theater commander.
context_section_description: 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.
  Stilwell 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 (which was under British command).
caption: then-Lt. Col. Stilwell as Assistant Chief of Staff, 4th Army Corps, October 1918 in France.
exif: {"Image Make": "Phase One", "Image Model": "IQ280", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "600", "Image YResolution": "600", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Capture One 8 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2017:03:01 23:06:49", "Image Artist": "", "Image ExifOffset": "208", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "600", "Thumbnail YResolution": "600", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "646", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3718", "EXIF DateTime": "2017:03:01 23:06:49", "EXIF ExposureTime": "161481/2422214", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:03:01 23:06:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:03:01 23:06:49", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "390689/100000", "EXIF LightSource": "other light source", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "8506", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "5766", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "GP001613", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[1, 1, 1, 1]", "EXIF LensModel": "1.0 mm f/1.0"}