I intend to write a little bit about Pershing’s arrival in first England and then France over the next few days. Here I wanted to share this image of the general with the mayor of Liverpool taken on the morning on 8 June 1917. As I said last night, Pershing and his entourage had pulled in from the Atlantic Ocean and docked safely in the Mersey River late the previous evening. Europeans were exhausted after nearly three years of war and the arrival of America’s commanding general was a cause for celebration. At least for the British and French. Pershing himself was not much for these public events and saw them as little more than a burden that took hm away from his work. He understood that it was his job to grin and bear it. The scene above was only the beginning.

(image/Library of Congress)