Pershing Road - Kansas City, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 39° 05.056 W 094° 35.017
15S E 363030 N 4327321
Third of a series of markers in The Link
Waymark Code: WMM0WB
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 06/29/2014
Views: 4
County of marker: Jackson County
Location of marker: Pershing Rd, Crown Center Walk, Kansas City
Marker erected by: Kansas City Tourism Bureau
Marker text: The road in front of Union Station was named for John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force (A.E.F.) in Europe in World War I
John J. Pershing was born September 13, 1860 in Laclede, Mo. The oldest of nine children, Pershing excelled academically and won an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 1896.
His service included the 6th Cavalry which fought against the Apache, the 10th Cavalry in the Santiago campaign of the Spanish-American War in 1898. Pershing served in the Philippines from 1899 to 1903, and became military attache to the U.S. embassy in Japan during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt raised his rank from Captain to Brigadier General promoting him ahead of 862 ranking officers.
In 1916, after commanding the army that entered Mexico in pursuit of Poncho Villa and his rebels, he became a public figure in the United States. When sent to France in 1917 as commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, he insisted the American Army would fight as an independent force, rather than merely filling the ranks of the battered Allies in their slow trench warfare.
By Act of Congress, Pershing was named General of the Armies of the United States. He retired from active duty in 1924 and died July 14, 1948 at the age of 88
The Link, an elevated 880-foot long elevated pedestrian walkway, offers enclosed, climate-controlled access between the Hyatt Regency Crown Center Hotel and the Westin Crown Center Hotel, as well as the Crown Center Shops and office buildings in the complex. An additional elevated pedestrian walkway links the Westin with the newly remodeled Union Station.