General Joseph Stilwell
On this day in 1945 a former Yonkers High School Football Quarterback Took Command of The Tenth Army.
General Joseph W. “Vinigor Joe” Stilwell, switched from his post as Chief of Army Ground Forces to the Pacific, when he was selected by General Douglas MacArthur to command the U. S. Tenth Army which at the time was mopping up on Okinawa. The veteran Japanese fighter’s transfer to the Pacific theater and his appointment to the command vacated by the death in action on Okinawa of Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., was announced from General MacArthur’s headquarters.
General Stilwell was sixty-three at the time and a graduate of Yonkers High School. His brother, Colonel John Stilwell, was vice president of the Consolidated Edison Company and a Yonkers resident.
The General, known as “Vinegar Joe,” was familiar with enemy tactics as were few other field commanders. Served In Burma After his long and distinguished service in the Burma-China theater, he was known to have been anxious to take another crack at the Japanese as a field commander.
He had served as U. S. Commander of Army Ground Forces in Washington since his return from Chungking. Stilwell was commander-in-chief of American Ground Forces in China and military adviser to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek before his recall to Washington.
Thanks to Yonkers VFW Post 1666 for this story. They have a great Facebook page –https://www.facebook.com/VFWPost1666.
