John J. Pershing
Picked by President Woodrow Wilson as the man who would lead the US military in “the war to end all wars”, Pershing and his expeditionary force arrived in France between June and July 1917. The symbolism of their arrival can’t be understated. One of the first things Pershing did was make a trip to the tomb of the Marquis de Lafayette, a French aristocrat who’d helped free the Americans to struggle free from British tyranny during the War of Independence. A comment made by Pershing’s aide: “Lafayette, nous voilà“—(“Lafayette, we are here“) sent a simple but powerful message: by freeing Europe from a Teutonic tyranny of its own the Americans had come to repay the favor.
The Missouri-born man had gained a great deal of valuable experience prior to the Great War. Graduating from West Point in 1886, he commanded the African-American 10th Cavalry in the Spanish-American War (1898), acted as Brigadier General in the Philippine Insurrection (1906 – 1913) and fought against Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa in 1916. But despite the impressive résumé, the military hadn’t been Pershing’s primary calling. Briefly a pedagogue, Pershing also flirted with a career in law. And the exponential growth of the AEF under his generalship (from 130,000 to two million within 18 months of the US’s entry) shows an astute and meticulous mind that would have done well in a legal context. Thankfully, for the allies, he chose not to put it to one.
Pershing’s AEF carried out three vital operations on the Western Front: the Battle of Cantigny in May 1918, the assault of the Saint-Mihiel Salient in September and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive from September through to the signing of the armistice in November. For almost a year he kept the American Expeditionary Force autonomous instead of having them sucked into depleted European units on the front. And this unquestionably paid off; German morale plummeted when faced with Pershing’s fresh-faced “doughboys”. And it plummeted further still against the fresh tactics of aggressive “open warfare” his forces waged—something the Europeans had long since become too exhausted for.
Pershing’s postwar reputation has survived pretty much intact. Logistical and operational errors notwithstanding—including the wasteful loss of life against German machine guns at the Meuse-Argonne—honors were heaped upon him. He was promoted to Chief of Staff of the US Armies in 1921, holding this position until his retirement in 1924. When he died in July 1948, an estimated 300,000 came to pay their last respects. And, in accordance with his wishes, Pershing was finally laid to rest in Arlington National Ceremony; under a modest tombstone but, most importantly, beside the men he’d led.