One of America's most famous Army officers, Pershing was born in Missouri on September 13, 1860. He graduated from West Point in 1886 and served in the Spanish-American War, the Philippines Insurrection, the Mexican Expedition and was the overall American Commander in Europe during World War I.

Following the war, he served as Army Chief of Staff.

He died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington on July 15, 1948. His funeral service, one of only a handfull ever held at the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery, was attended by literally thousands of American citizens as well as by the leaders of government and the military. He was buried, as was his wish, under a simple white gravestone in Section 34 of Arlington National Cemetery, near the gravesites of his 'Doughboys' from World War I.

His grandsons, Army Second Lieutenant Richard Warren Pershing, who was killed-in-action in Vietnam in 1968, and Colonel John Warren Pershing III, are buried beside him.

PERSHING, JOHN J.
Brigadier General, U.S. Army
Commander
ecorations U.S. Army, Supplement V, 1941
Home Town: Laclede, Missouri
Date of Action: June 15, 1913

John’s father was the proprietor of a General Store. He was not averse to taking some risk and that was an influence that Pershing would inherit when it came to exhibiting leadership. The store faced bankruptcy after the panic of 1873 and John’s father went on the road as a traveling salesman.
Pershing Wiki 2020, Height, Age, Net Worth 2020, Family - He was a senior United States Army officer, most famous as the commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) on the Western Front i.

Citation:

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to John J. Pershing, Brigadier General, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action against hostile fanatical Moros at Mount Bagsak, Jolo, Philippine Islands, on June 15, 1913.

In their responses to Trump’s tweet, journalists happily relayed Pershing’s jaunty nickname, “Black Jack,” mostly without noting where it came from: When he was an instructor at West Point. 'Black Jack' Pershing rid the Philippines of Islamic extremism in 1911 by executing a group of Muslim terrorists and burying them in a grave filled with pig's blood and entrails? That is a rumor that has been circulating since September 2001, it is unsubstantiated. Example 1 Email contributed by K. “Black Jack” Of The 10th “Black Jack” Of The 10th A Negro cavalry regiment was John J. Pershing’s “home” in the service. From it came his nickname, and he never lost his affection for—or failed to champion—the valorous colored troopers he led.

Brigadier General Pershing personally assumed command of the assaulting line at the most critical period when only about 15 yards from the last Moro position. His encouragement and splendid example of personal heroism resulted in a general advance and the prompt capture of the hostile stronghold.

5 August 2006:
Lookin' Back: Expectation of general's demise was premature
PAUL L. ALLEN
Courtesy of the Tucson Citizen

In the World War I era, no American military figure was better known than Gen. John J. 'Black Jack' Pershing.

So it was no surprise that reporters gathered like vultures circling a fresh roadkill when word got out in 1938 that Pershing was dying at a sanitorium in Tucson.

Pershing had accomplished the near impossible, whipping an ill-prepared American military into an effective, disciplined, 2 million-member fighting machine in World War I and then leading it to victory as its field commander.

The late Reba D. Grubb, who compiled a massive, two-volume history - 'Portrait of Progress, A Story of Tucson Medical Center' - collected details of Pershing's presence in the Old Pueblo.

He had been appointed chief of staff in 1921 and retired three years later as 'General of the Armies.' Thereafter, he resisted the temptation to get into politics and declined to make public strategy suggestions about the uneasy world of the 1930s and 1940s.

Grubb wrote that the general and his sister, May, were 'wintering' in Tucson in 1938, staying at the popular El Conquistador Hotel in February when he became ill. He was taken to the Desert Sanitorium of the Southwest, as TMC was known in its original incarnation.

The retired general was given medication and ordered to rest, but he was hospitalized at the sanitorium on February 22, attended by Col. Shelly U. Marietta of the Army Medical Corps, a nationally recognized heart specialist flown in from San Antonio at the family's request.

Pershing was reported to have suffered 'acute damage' to his heart muscles, with blood pressure dropping and a fever rising. He became comatose, and EKG testing showed 'progressive myocardial degeneration.'

In other words, Pershing, then 78, was dying.

His son and other relatives were summoned, and as word spread, a horde of radio commentators, newspaper reporters, Army officers and others gathered, wanting to be the first to tell the world that the old warrior had died.

The sanitorium's telephone system was overtaxed as calls came in, and more than two dozen newshounds hovered around the switchboard, hoping to assure themselves of an open line. They mooched cigarettes from each other and from visitors to the hospital and relied on the charity of hospital employees who not only tolerated their presence, but also sustained them with toast and jam, coffee and milk.

The intruders slept where and when they could, sitting in wheelchairs or sprawled on mattresses in the hallways and waiting room.

The rugged old general, known as a strict disciplinarian, regained consciousness, then once again lapsed into a coma. A doctor's statement indicated Pershing's condition 'appeared unfavorable.' His kidneys ceased to function, and uremic poisoning set in. Anxious reporters were told 'the end is approaching.'

Funeral arrangements were put in place, and a special rail car was waiting to transport his body to the East Coast. A World War I uniform Pershing wanted to be buried in was flown to Tucson. School would be dismissed, an honor guard was arranged, and florists stocked extra flowers.
But the old soldier outflanked the vultures.

He improved.

On March 2, he sat up and had a breakfast of Farina, though his intravenous tubes remained in place. By March 15, he was allowed out of bed for a brief walk. He soon left for New York City, accompanied by a doctor.

The following fall, fully recuperated, Pershing returned to Desert Sanitorium, bringing a retinue of servants and family members. He did so again in 1940, spending the winter season here.

On July 15, 1948, General of the Armies John J. Pershing died at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The overeage

General Black Jack Pershing