The
General Joseph W. Stilwell Museum is situated in the Yuzhong Region
of Chongqing, and occupies an area of 7.2 mu (about 1.2 acres).
It was founded in memory of Joseph W. Stilwell, an American general
who contributed a great deal to the Chinese people. Since the
museum opened to the public in 1991, tens of thousands of visitors
from home and overseas have been there. William Pace, a former
American Secretary of Defense, made a special trip to the museum
in 1994 and was greatly touched by how well it had been preserved.
Although it has been restored and enlarged several times, the
style of it has not been changed.
In 1942, during the Second World War, General Joseph W. Stilwell
acted under orders to come to Chongqing. He worked as Chief of
Staff in the China Theater of Operations and as the Commander-in-Chief
of the American Army in the China Burma India Theater (CBI). The
residence became the headquarters of the China Burma India Theater
during that period. General Stilwell participated in a series
of political and military affairs in the CBI Theatre of World
WarⅡ, and cemented a profound friendship with the Chinese people
fighting side-by-side in the Anti-Fascist War in China. In July
1944, campaigns in Northern Burma succeeded and a road between
India and China was built under his direct supervision, which
made ammunitions and weapons accessible to China and brought an
end to the blockade of the fascist state. The road was later named
Joseph W. Stilwell Road. President Roosevelt recalled General
Stilwell to Washington in 1944.
The
main building of the museum is the former residence of General
Joseph W. Stilwell. It is a three-storied house, including an
office,an adjutant room, two meeting rooms, bedrooms and a basement.
Simple furniture is shown as it was during the time that he lived
there, and more than one hundred articles such as household goods,
manuscripts and the uniform which was used by the general are
displayed. In the residence’s courtyard, a monument stands in
the center on which is engraved a passage of epigraph in both
English and Chinese. The epigraph was written by Franklin Delano
Roosevelt on May 17, 1944. There is a bust of General Joseph W.
Stilwell to one side of the monument, which gives visitors a vivid
portrait of this great general.