World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseDaniel Isom Sultan was born in Oxford, Mississippi, United States. He graduated 9th in a class of 111 at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1907 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He served in the Philippines prior to WW1, and in France during the war. During the interwar years he held various engineering and administrative posts, including time in Nicaragua. On 8 Jul 1939 he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and competed with George Marshall for the position of Army Chief of Staff. He was assigned as the commander of the 38th Infantry Division and later the VIII Corps at the beginning of WW2.

ww2dbaseIn 1943 he was sent to the China-Burma-India theater as the deputy of General Joseph Stilwell, who commented "Dan Sultan is the best thing that ever happened to the theater". On 2 Sep 1944, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and took over Stilwell's previous responsibility as the Southeast Asia Command of the theater two months later. After returning to the United States on 23 Jun 1945, he became Inspector General of the Army on 14 Jul. He passed away during active service in Washington D.C., United States, in 1947.

ww2dbaseA United States Navy transport was named after Sultan's honor.

Daniel Sultan Timeline

Photographs