On Needtobreathe’s three previous records, Joe Stillwell, drummer for the South Carolina-based group, felt like the band was struggling to get out its message.

To leathery, hard-bitten General Joseph W. Stilwell went the final practical proof of what the textbooks had told him 40 years before at West Point: there is more to war than just fighting.

Harsh, arrogant, and given to conflict, Gen. 'Vinegar Joe' Stilwell may be just the figure to reach both Chinese and American viewers.

A museum in the Chinese city of Chongqing is dedicated to U.S. Gen. Joseph Stilwell, who commanded the China-Burma-India Theater in World War 2.