Pershing, John Joseph

Pershing, John Joseph (1860-1948), American general, who led the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in Europe during World War I. He was born on September 13, 1860, in Linn County, Missouri, and educated at the United States Military Academy. He served in the Apache campaign in 1886, the Sioux campaign in 1890-1891, and the Spanish-American War in Cuba (1898), and the Philippines (1899-1903). In 1916, he headed a punitive expedition into Mexico in pursuit of Francisco (Pancho) Villa, who had made incursions into American territory. In September of that year, Pershing was made a major general. When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Pershing was appointed commander in chief of the AEF in France and conducted its operations with great success. In October of that year he was made a full general. He preserved the unity of the American army, in spite of pressure to divide it among other Allied forces. The success of the Americans at Saint-Mihiel, France, greatly stimulated the Allied morale. When the armistice came, Pershing was almost in sight of his goal, Sedan. For his contribution to the Allied victory, in September 1919 he was made General of the Armies of the United States, a rank only he has held.

Appointed chief of staff of the US Army in 1921, Pershing entered on the unprecedented task of combining into one organization the Regular Army, the National Guard, and the Permanent Reserves. After his retirement on September 12, 1924, he headed a commission supervising American war memorials in France. His memoirs, My Experiences in the World War, appeared in 1931. He died in Washington, D.C., on July 15, 1948.