Bryan Stalder 
Contributor 

As the nation heads into Memorial Day weekend and Kansas City marks the broader approach to America’s 250th anniversary in 2026, we should take a moment to revisit our attention to one of Missouri’s most consequential military figures — Gen. John J. Pershing.

Pershing, born in the small rural town of Laclede, Missouri, in 1860, rose from modest roots to become the senior American commander during World War I. His leadership of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) helped shape the brutal final year of the war and cemented the United States’ emergence as a global military power. At a time when Allied forces were stretched thin and utterly exhausted, Pershing fiercely insisted that American troops fight as a unified, distinct national army rather than being broken up to reinforce depleted British and French commands.

It was a stubborn, highly controversial stance at the time, but one that changed the course of military history. As eminent military historian David F. Trask noted in his definitive work “The AEF and Coalition Warmaking,” Pershing’s unwavering insistence on a separate American army was the single decision that “preserved the national identity of the American contribution” and ultimately laid the groundwork for the modern, independent U.S. military command structure.

In Kansas City, Pershing’s legacy is not just global but deeply local. His name is permanently tied to the city’s civic identity through landmarks like Pershing Road, which borders the sprawling northern edge of the National WWI Museum and Memorial landscape.

That connection will serve as the backdrop this weekend as Memorial Day events and Union Station-area celebrations bring residents together downtown. With 2026 marking the semiquincentennial—the 250th anniversary of the United States—organizers across the country are increasingly using this holiday to reflect not only on those lost in service, but on the historic figures who shaped the nation’s trajectory.

During a recent visit to Washington DC, I visited Pershing’s gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery. Although buried under a simple solemn headstone among the men he commanded, by contrast, his impact on the local architecture of Kansas City remains towering.

Pershing’s impact is inextricably linked to the creation of the Liberty Memorial. Historical accounts of the site’s early development highlight the immense influence of Northeast’s own civic giant: lumber executive and philanthropist Robert A. Long. As the president of the Liberty Memorial Association, R.A. Long famously spearheaded a legendary 1919 civic fundraising campaign that pulled in over $2.5 million from local residents in just ten days.

On November 1, 1921,  Long stood before a crowd of more than 100,000 people to host Gen. Pershing alongside the four supreme Allied commanders—Marshal Ferdinand Foch of France, Admiral Lord Earl Beatty of Great Britain, Lieutenant General Baron Jacques of Belgium, and General Armando Diaz of Italy. It was the only time in world history that these five military titans were gathered together in one place, and it happened right here in Kansas City to break ground on what Pershing himself called a monument to the “patriotism, old-fashioned loyalty, and devotion of our people.”

As Memorial Day approaches, Pershing’s story serves as a poignant reminder of Missouri’s outsized role in shaping national history — from rural beginnings to global command, and from local civic halls to the battlefields of Europe.

For Northeast residents, that legacy is not distant history. It is embedded in the streets we drive, the grand limestone columns of Corinthian Hall, and the annual rituals of remembrance that continue to define our community each May.