General Pershing
| John J. Pershing | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Birth name | John Joseph Pershing |
| Nickname(s) | "Black Jack" |
| Born |
September 13, 1860 Laclede, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | July 15, 1948 (aged 87) Walter Reed General Hospital Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Buried | Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington County, Virginia, U.S. |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1886–1924 |
| Rank |
 General of the Armies
|
| Service number | O-1 |
| Commands held | 8th Brigade Mexican Expedition American Expeditionary Force First United States Army Chief of Staff of the United States Army |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards |
Distinguished Service Cross Distinguished Service Medal Silver Star Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (United Kingdom) Légion d'honneur (France) |
| Signature |  |
Russo-Japanese War
Mexican Revolution
General of the Armies John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948) was a senior United States Army officer. His most famous post was when he served as the commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) on the Western Front in World War I, 1917–18.
General Pershing rejected British and French demands that American forces be integrated with their armies, and insisted that the AEF would operate as a single unit under his command. Although some American divisions fought under British command, and he also allowed all-black units to be integrated with the French army.
American forces first saw serious battle at Cantigny, Chateau-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and Soissons. To speed up the arrival of the doughboys, they embarked for France leaving the heavy equipment behind, and used British and French tanks, artillery, airplanes and other munitions. In September 1918 at St. Mihiel, the First Army was directly under Pershing's command; it overwhelmed the salient – the encroachment into Allied territory – that the German Army had held for three years. For the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Pershing shifted roughly 600,000 American soldiers to the heavily defended forests of the Argonne, keeping his divisions engaged in hard fighting for 47 days, alongside the French. The Allied Hundred Days Offensive, which the Argonne fighting was part of, contributed to Germany calling for an armistice. Pershing was of the opinion that the war should continue and that all of Germany should be occupied in an effort to permanently destroy the German militarism.
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