Details about Photo: General J.J. Pershing,John Joseph 'Black Jack' Pershing,1860-1948,US Army Photo: General J.J. Pershing,John Joseph 'Black Jack' Pershing,1860- 1948,US Army Item Information. Pershing is the only American to be promoted in his own lifetime to General of the Armies, the highest possible rank in the United States Army; an act was passed in 1976 retroactively promoting George Washington to the same rank but with higher seniority, ensuring that he would always be considered the senior ranking officer in the United States Army.

General John Joseph Black Jack Pershing Street

Who is John J. Pershing?

John J. Pershing, in full John Joseph Pershing was born 13 September 1860 in Laclede, Missouri, U.S. and died 15 July 1948, Washington, D.C. U.S. Pershing was an army general who commanded the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in Europe during World War I.

1886. The beginning

Pershing graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1886. After serving several campaigns and being wounded in battle, he was appointed as an instructor in tactics at West Point in 1897.

1898.

The Spanish-American War gave Pershing opportunity for rapid promotion. He served in Cuba through the Santiago campaign (1898) and was appointed major of volunteers. In June 1899 he was made adjutant general. He established the Bureau of Insular Affairs in the War Department and acted as head of that bureau.

General John Joseph Black Jack Pershing Chicago Il

1906 and Roosvelt promotion

In 1899, Pershing was dispatched to the Philippines as adjutant general of the department of Mindanao. In 1905, he was military attaché to the U.S. embassy in Japan. In 1906, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt promoted Pershing. He next gained attention as commander of the punitive expedition sent against the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, who had raided Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916.

1917

General John Joseph Black Jack Pershing -

In April 1917, President Woodrow Wilson selected Pershing to command the American troops being sent to Europe – he landed in France on 9 June 1917 – to fight in WWI. The transition from the anti-insurgency campaigns that had characterized much of Pershing’s career to the vast stagnant siege of the Western Front was an extreme test, but Pershing brought to the challenge a keen administrative sense and a knack for carrying out plans in spite of adversity.

General John Joseph Black Jack Pershing Jr

Pershing returned home with a sound reputation, and, on 1 September 1919, he was given the rank of general of the armies of the United States. Pershing’s nickname, “Black Jack,” derived from his service with a black regiment early in his career. Eschewing politics, Pershing remained in the army, serving as chief of staff from 1921 until his retirement in 1924.

ARMY & NAVY

General John Joseph Black Jack Pershing

General John Joseph ('Black Jack') Pershing last week presented My Experiences in the World War, in book form, to take its place beside the military memoirs of Foch, Haig, Hindenburg, Ludendorff.— Dedicating his volume to the Unknown Soldier, the only commander since George Washington to lead a U. S. Army throughout an entire war focused his full attention upon the military contribution of the U. S. to Allied victory. Outside the range of his crisp impersonal narrative are the billions of dollars, the tons of...