General Stilwell died in 1946. His legacy lives on, both in Monterey County and abroad.

Dave Faries here, interested in how the past catches up to you.

I was first introduced to General Joseph Stilwell while studying history in college. I got to know more about him while working on my master’s thesis. One of the secondary sources I read while preparing my research was Barbara Tuchman’s definitive Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-1945.

There is a lot to admire about the man known as “Vinegar Joe.” He was observant and had a sharp mind, which allowed him to understand Chinese culture and learn the language during three tours of duty to the country between the world wars. He was steadfast, honest and willing to play by the rules that were clear to him, if not by the rulebook laid down by others. So during the army’s maneuvers in Louisiana in 1940, he broke convention—attacking off schedule, moving quickly by night and earning a reputation as a soldier’s general.

Sent back to China in 1942 to take command of the China-Burma-India theater of operations, Stilwell furthered his prickly reputation by dismissing ally Chiang Kai-shek as “peanut” and recommending Washington send more support to the communist forces—the ones actually fighting the Japanese foe.

My family crossed some of the same ground as Stilwell. Before America’s entry into World War II, the future general returned home from Peking (now Beijing) in 1939. My uncle Harold, a newly minted Marine private, arrived in Peking to join the legation guard that same year. In the 1990s, my dad taught English for three years at an institution in Changsha, a city Stilwell struggled to defend decades earlier.

What I had missed in my focus on the war zone was that Stilwell made a home on the Monterey Peninsula. Carmel and its surrounding was where the famous general could be a normal family man. Just how normal is revealed in his diaries, where he comments on pheasants perched at neighbor Robinson Jeffers’ house.

Recently we learned more about Stilwell and his legacy. He continues to be respected by the Chinese people and government, so much so that he is a source of China’s “people’s diplomacy,” where they seek engagement with individuals as a way to soften the current diplomatic chill between China and the U.S. In August, the Chinese celebrated Stilwell’s birth year. Xi Jinping even sent a personal letter to the general’s grandson.

Stilwell, Carmel and China are the subject of this week’s cover story. Sara Rubin and I found it to be fascinating. Check it out here or in print. We hope you find it to be just as interesting.

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General Joseph Stilwell’s lasting impact on diplomacy. Plus, your Sunday Paper.