Howard Ralph Pratt

Boot camp at Parris Island; assigned duty with 13th Defense Battalion at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Served with 20mm AA battery and Battalion HQ as a truck driver through spring of 1944.

Transferred to Heavy AA Group, 13th AA Artillery Battalion at San Diego in summer of 1944; to HQ Fleet Marine Force, Pacific in fall of 1944. Assigned to A/1/24th Marines on 18 September 1944.

Outfit: A/1/24th Marines
Rank: PFC
MOS: 607 (Mortarman)
Important Events:
February 19, 1945 – killed in action (decapitation by shell fragment) during bombardment on first night ashore.

Awarded Silver Star Medal for actions on this date:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as an ammunition carrier in a mortar section of the First Battalion, Twenty-fourth Marines, FOURTH Marine Division during action against enemy Japanese forces at Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands on 19 February 1945. Seeing that one of his comrades had been hit by shrapnel from an enemy mortar shell, Private First Class Pratt immediately ran to his aid and, as another hostile barrage landed in the area, threw himself across the wounded man’s body, losing his own life to save the life of his comrade. His valiant spirit of self-sacrifice and heroic disregard for his own personal safety reflect the highest credit upon Private First Class Pratt and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

Campaign Narrative