Stilwell, Joseph W

Stilwell, Joseph W(arren)

(born March 19, 1883, Palatka, Fla., U.S.—died Oct. 12, 1946, San Francisco, Calif.) U.S. army officer. He graduated from West Point and served in World War I. He studied Chinese and served in Tianjin (1926–29) and as a military attaché in Beijing (1935–39). At the outbreak of World War II, he became chief of staff to Gen. Chiang Kai-shek and commanded Chinese armies in Burma (1939–42). He became commander of U.S. forces in China, Burma, and India and oversaw construction of the Ledo, or Stilwell, Road, a strategic military link with the Burma Road. Promoted to general (1944), he commanded the U.S. 10th Army in the Pacific (1945–46).