The American Expeditionary Forces Launches Their First Major Offensive In Europe As An Independent Army

General of the Armies John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, Honorary GCB (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948), was an 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 declared that George Washington has never been nor will ever be outranked). Pershing led the American Expeditionary Force 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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Pershing