Evening star., 1944-11-19
Gen. Sultan Has Job He Likes
Best Commanding Troops
BY PRESTON GROVER,


NEW DELHI, Nov. 4 (DelayeO -
Eight days after taking over the
jungle half Of the China Burma
India theater, 1t. Gen. Dan !. Sui
tan had that piece of Gen. Joseph
w. Stilwells old command in such
shape that he could quit New Delhi
and get out into the field.
There's more fresh air out there"
he said, II don't feel so cramped."
Being cooped up by office work
evidently Is one of the principal
hates of this former Army football
coach who now commands all forces
on the western side of the hump.
Asked what job in the Army he liked
best, he replied, commanding
troops"
Double Assignment.
In inheriting the India Burma
portion of Stilwell's command, Gen.
Sultan also inherited an office and
. field assignment.
Gen. SMtan's Office, In q rambling
one-story frame building, includes
two rooms, one for him and one for
his aide. It's decorations are maps
q desk slightly worn about its edges
where Gen. Sultan rests his feet
when at ease, and couple Of chairs.
For quarters he has two rooms and
bath at the Imperial Hotel If he
wanted it, he probably could take
over part or all of one of the
Maharaja palaces in the pukka
part Of town, but he has not asked
for such an accommodation and
probably won't.
Gen. Sultan, in the Obi theater
for about year, is known to every
body. I have known him ever since
he came here and it was q funny
experience for both of us when ]
walked in and began shooting ques-
tions at him about the military situ-
alton, what type of razor he used,
whether Burma would hold out un-
til the next monsoon and what he
reads evenings when he is too tired
to work. But he grinned and re-
laxed and I grinned and relaxed
and we went at it.
FOrm10aDle Looking.
When he relaxed he is easy to
talk to, although when he isn't re-
laxed he looks pretty formidable.
He wears the best quality uni
forms-and yet his military natti-
ness seems somewhat short of a
"pukka sahib general"
Gen. Sultan talks with a thick
Southern drawl. He still considers
Oxford, Miss, as his home town,
although he hasn't lived there since
he was IT. When he commanded
the 38th Division in Southern Mis-
sissippi early In the war he used to
fly a plane over Oxford on his way
to Washington $50 I could see what
the town looked like from topside. !"
He was Engineer Commissioner for
the District of Columbia from 1894
to 1898.
When Gen. Sultan visits Oxford
he stays with favorite aunt, Mrs.
Lily Hudson, now IS years old.
Three Girls in Family.
There are three girls in his family,
one a daughter Of Mrs. Sultan by
an earlier marriage. All are con-
nected with the Army. The oldest.
Shela. was born on Corregidor and
is married to 28-year-old Col. Mar
shall Gray, commander Of q Flying
Fortress group in Italy. Linda, un-
married, works at the quartermaster
depot at Fort Sam Houston, Tex,
where Mrs. Sultan is living. Mrs.
Sultan's daughter, Devin, is the wife
of Capt. Howard j. Cameron. sta
toned in the Southwest Pacific.
Gen. Sultan's army work has
been mainly engineering, but he
has commanded every type of unit
from platoon to army. Now the COM
mander Of a theater, 1t Is expected
that besides Americans there will be
Chinese armies and q British divi-
sion In North Burma directly under
his wing.
Gen. Sultan hopes to get back to
Corregidor. He built most Of the
defense installations there in 1915.
Expects to Fly Home Soon.
We WAA4 VIC Aly A1lS llOIltS Nv way OF
the Philippines before long" he
said, showing that it is shorter to
America that way than across North
Africa and the Atlantic.
Gen. Sultan, who surveyed the
route for canal across Nicaragua
from 1921 to 1881, believes "a
Nlcaraguan canal is perfectly
feasible, and better than
adding a fourth series of locks at
Panama, because it is 10 times as
hard to stage a surprise attack
against two canals as against one. /"
At Nicaragua, he was compelled
to give up his lifelong habit of
rolling his own cigarettes, because
the jungle made loose tobacco too
wet" Since then he has smoked
packaged cigarettes, except when
Col. j. M. Thompson, of Ell Paso,
Tex, a staff aide, comes in to see
/