John J. Pershing

John Joseph Pershing was born September 13,1860 and died July 15,1948. John was a general officer in the United States Army. Pershing is the only person to be promoted in his own lifetime to the highest rank ever held in the United States Army-General of the Armies a retroactive Congressional edict passed in 1976 promoted George Washington to the same rank but with higher seniority. John also holds the first United States officer service number (O-1).Pershing led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, and was regarded as a mentor by the generation of American generals who led the United States Army in Europe during World War II, including George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley, and George S. Patton.John was born on a farm near Laclede, Missouri, to businessman John Fletcher Pershing and homemaker Ann Elizabeth Thompson. He also had five siblings: sisters Ann Elizabeth, Margaret, and May; brothers Ward and James. When the Civil War began, John F. Pershing worked as a sutler for the 18th Missouri Volunteer Infantry, but he did not serve in the military.