page_title: John J. Pershing
section_title: Civilian awards
hierarchical_section_title: John J. Pershing / Summary of service / Honors and awards / Civilian awards
caption_attribution_description: English: Image of &#160;General John J. Pershing&#160; definitive 8c postage stamp, issue of 1961
context_page_description: General of the Armies John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing GCB was a senior United States Army officer. He served most famously as the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces on the Western Front in World War I, 1917–18.
  Pershing rejected British and French demands that American forces be integrated with their armies, and insisted that the AEF would operate as a single unit under his command, although some American divisions fought under British command, and he also allowed all-black units to be integrated with the French army.
  Pershing's soldiers first saw serious battle at Cantigny, Chateau-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and Soissons. To speed up the arrival of American troops, they embarked for France leaving heavy equipment behind, and used British and French tanks, artillery, airplanes and other munitions. In September 1918 at St. Mihiel, the First Army was directly under Pershing's command; it overwhelmed the salient – the encroachment into Allied territory – that the German Army had held for three years.
context_section_description: Congressional Gold Medal
  Thanks of the United States Congress
  Distinguished Service Medal, American Legion
  Special Medal of the Committee of the city of Buenos Aires
  Induction into the Nebraska Hall of Fame (1963)
caption: General Pershing was honored with a U.S. postage stamp in 1961
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