Nearly a year after World War I ended, New Yorkers gathered to honor the return of General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in Europe, with a victory ticker-tape parade.President Woodrow Wilson appointed Pershing, a veteran of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars, to command American troops overseas in 1917. Nicknamed “Black Jack” Pershing by his cadets at West Point for his recurring command of black troops, Pershing`s forces were instrumental in helping British and French allied troops force an armistice on the Germans in November 1918.
