Joseph Stilwell

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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 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 as a commander at Fort Benning, Georgia. Stilwell often gave harsh critiques of performance in field exercises, and a subordinate, stung by the 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."

Postwar career

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 Sixth US Army, with its headquarters at the Presidio of San Francisco. It 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 US Marine platoons in suppressing a prison uprising, the Battle of Alcatraz.

Source

•   Distinguished Service Cross
•   Army Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster
•   Legion of Merit
•   Bronze Star Medal
•   Philippine Campaign Medal
•   Mexican Border Service Medal
•   World War I Victory Medal
•   American Defense Service Medal
•   Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with three campaign stars
•   World War II Victory Medal
•   Army of Occupation Medal with "ASIA" clasp (posthumous)
•   Chevalier Légion d'honneur
•   Panamanian La Solidaridad Medal 1919
•   Nationalist China's Order of Blue Sky and White Sun (offered to him twice and refused by him both times, according to a biographer).
•   Combat Infantryman Badge (General Stilwell is one of only three general officers awarded the CIB, which is by regulation only awarded to those the rank of colonel or below, for service while a general officer; Major General William Dean and General Matthew Ridgway are the other two. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur received an honorary CIB.)