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WW2 USMC Purple Heart. 1LT Roy C. Pratt, VMF-223, FG-1D Corsair Pilot RTB MIA / KIA Philippines, 3/24/45.


aerialbridge
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Thanks for the efforts and posting this lecacy of one of America's sons.Great story and biography. RIP

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Very nice tribute you have done in his memory. I am sure the family is very pleased that you are keeping his memory alive and taking care of his medals.

 

Kurt

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Excellent research and write-up. You are keeping his memory alive. R.I.P. Lt. Pratt. Semper Fi......Bobgee

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aerialbridge

Thanks for the comments. I’d like to thank “mes” (Mark) for reasonably and rapidly copying the NARA service file that was essential to doing this post. Also to LuftStalag1, ssggates, lettow and marentius for providing online archival news clippings. We can’t pick our family, but we do pick our friends. I believe it’s kind of the same way where attributed Purple Heart medals are concerned. These medals are a tangible memorial to a service person that lost life or limb in combat action. That undeniable fact is separate and apart from any numismatic free- market value they have. We all know of many instances where collectors have been the best friend, and sometimes the only friend to these medal/memorials, often years after they were initially presented. For me, that "friendship" includes publicly honoring the memory of the man whose sacrifice it represents. I would encourage families that might read these words, to consider taking their ancestor’s Purple Heart memorial out of the drawer, closest, garage, storage space, etc. and dust it off. Then educate themselves on the service history behind it. Read books, go online, order his service file from NARA in St. Louis or hire a researcher. And then consider putting that information and imagery all together and sharing it with others that appreciate what it represents. You have no further to go than this forum to do that.

 

 

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  • 4 years later...

What an amazing post!   RIP 1LT Roy Pratt!  The detailed history is outstanding, thank you so much for putting this together?  You said you got his medals from a good friend who was a family member of 1LT Pratt?  I wonder why they would give all of these medals and pictures, kinda seems like something that should be in the family?  With such a large family and all.  Would be worth checking into I would think.

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  • 3 weeks later...
aerialbridge
On 12/13/2021 at 1:14 PM, Bulldog69 said:

What an amazing post!   RIP 1LT Roy Pratt!  The detailed history is outstanding, thank you so much for putting this together?  You said you got his medals from a good friend who was a family member of 1LT Pratt?  I wonder why they would give all of these medals and pictures, kinda seems like something that should be in the family?  With such a large family and all.  Would be worth checking into I would think.

 

Respectfully, after collecting medals for many years, the proposition that "medals belong with family", specifically Purple Hearts to servicemen killed in action I believe is overbroad.  It depends on the circumstances of each case, which have infinite variations.  What is "family" and  how did the medal come to "leave family" for starters.    If "family" means a spouse, child, parent or perhaps sibling of a PH KIA recipient, I would agree that it would be nice if the medal were with someone who knew the serviceman and wanted to have the medal.  Believe it or not, it's not a given that a close relation wants the medal for any number of reasons.  IMO, what matters is that the medal is treated with respect and the sacrifice is not forgotten.  That can be achieved if the medal is with family, who remember the man and display it in their home, or by a collector, who researches the service and shares the medal with others in a forum such as this.  My friend who entrusted this medal and ephemera to me died last year in her late 70s.   She never married and was Roy's niece, born several months before he died in the Philippines.   Her dad was Roy's older brother.  As my friend told the story, over 40 years ago,  when she was in her 80s, Roy's mother spread out his medals, insignia, papers and photos on a table in her house and literally split them up between my friend and her only sibling.   That sibling predeceased my friend by some years.   I came to know my friend more than a dozen years ago when I was researching a Sampson Medal to her grandfather on the other side of her family, who died on active duty at Newport, RI, when her mother (an only child) was 16.   That medal had wound up at a coin shop in Texas nearly 80 years later and was offered in an online auction.   In doing the deep dive research, including genealogy,  that I do on a medal, through an intermediary I came to meet my friend.   She was amused by the interest I took and shared scans of photos she had and what little anecdotal information she knew about her grandfather, a chief carpenter, who had built the family home in Newport with his own hands.  I asked her if she would like to have her grandfather's Sampson Medal.  She declined and said she was glad I had it.  I never asked her for anything.  Over the years, unannounced, she mailed me her grandfather's bosun's pipe and leather bound CSC book.  I asked her if I could pay for them.  She laughed and said no. Even so, I sent her a substantial monetary gift that Christmas. She told me she had no family she was close to and wanted me to have them because I had researched him and memorialized his service, including at a medal show where I sent her pictures of the display afterwards.  And so one day, she sent me Roy's things I have shown here.  More than once, she made it clear that there was no extended family that she was close to, or that cared about her.  They were in New England while she was in the South.  I offer this story for anyone reading apropos of "medals belong with family" and an illustration of why I don't feel any moral compunction or impulse to do anything other than honor my late friend's wish and be a good caretaker for Roy Pratt's Purple Heart while I'm alive.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Good morning, thank you so much for sharing the detailed response, this answers a lot of my questions.    I have to admit I read your post and had to take some time to get my thoughts and feelings collected and organized.  So to be upfront, I am 1LT Roy Pratt's niece, my father is his younger brother.  I am very sorry to hear of Amy's passing, yes she has been separated from the family for some time, the details of that are irrelevant.  1LT Roy C Pratt has siblings who are still alive, one of them being my father.  He also has a namesake, my brother Roy Pratt who has many of his medals in his possession.  So first, again, I have to thank you for the thorough and fascinating work you have done putting the story of my uncle together.  Many of the pictures I have never seen and I can't express how much  I enjoyed them!  Also seeing pictures of my grandparents and my Uncle Ed in uniform was amazing, I was very close to them.  I've read the post literally 10 times and each time I just say "WOW" and am so grateful!  I am so grateful I've been on this journey and it has lead me to this you and your work.  It has always been hard on my family to not know what had happened to Uncle Roy, there was chatter that someone thought they had seen him in a POW newspaper clipping but when they tired to follow up on it, it lead nowhere.  Unfortunately, I was born long after he went missing but his story has always been shared.  Having an older brother named after him has kept his story alive, we all know of his sacrifice and courage.  I am more than confident you have cared for our family pictures, documents and his medals in the way they deserve to be and for that I thank you.  Here is my question to you, I am trying to put a birthday present together for my father which is what lead me here.  If I promise to give my Uncle Roy's items the same respect and love that you have and assure you it will continue in the future, would you be willing to send them to me?  It would mean the WORLD to my father, my aunt and my family to have them to honor and pass down to future generations of Pratt's.  I look forward to your response and please be safe.

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I should mention I am willing and able to answer any questions you have or proof of my relation.  Please let me know if you would be willing to connect with me.  Thank you so much!

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Bulldog69,

You have no idea how unreasonable your request is. "...would you be willing to send them to me?" Not even an offer of any type of compensation? Even if you offered to give the owner $1 per hour that they have spent doing the research and background, cataloging and all, it would probably be in the high hundreds of hours. And you want him to send them to you just because your "family"! If your request would be to offer Fair Market Value, when and if the current owner would decide to sell, it would be much more reasonable. No winners here, Bulldog69 appears to think the owner should just send the (very valuable) set to her because she is a relative. The owner who has spent probably countless hours in research time and all, has grown to somewhat "know" the veteran, is being somewhat "shamed" to "send them back to the family". As a collector, I become very attached to items in my collection, even double market value would not temp me to sell some things.

A request like this is the very reason many caretakers of these types of items do not share them.

Best Regards,

BKW 

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dhcoleterracina

Bulldog69,  another thought would be for you to put together a shadow box of the same medals and insignia that your uncle was entitled and wore. the engraving on medals is not visible when framed and I see no need for them to be the exact medals issued. If you join forces with your brother you can at least have some of the exact medals issued until such time that the actual medals may be available. People here can help you with what you need, perhaps even donate what you are missing to assemble an actual grouping. If framed, it becomes something that hopefully gets passed down to preserve family history. 

 

Finally, the family chose this man to be the caretaker of these medals and documents and by all accounts, he has kept his promise and we all know about Lt. Pratt's service as a result. He is following the wishes of the family. 

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I'd like to thank my brother collectors,  Brian Keith and dhcoleterracina (also a fellow So. Cal. resident) for your very thoughtful responses to Bulldog69's posting and request that I give her Lt. Pratt's Purple Heart and other ephemera that his niece Amy (and my good friend) entrusted to me more than four and a half years ago.   Frankly, I could not have said better what each of them stated.  I will respectfully decline Bulldog 69's request at this time to give her what Amy entrusted to me for the reasons previously stated by me and my eloquent, fellow member/collector, Brian.  As he said, having researched and publicly resurrected Lt. Pratt's service and sacrifice here, where it can be shared and honored by countless people who care, I feel that I am connected to him.  I have a grand total of three posthumous Purple Hearts that I am caretaker of.   All are from World War II.   All have been researched and shared on this Forum: one to an Army Sergeant killed at Anzio, one to a Navy CPO killed in a kamikaze attack in the South Pacific, and Lt. Pratt's Purple Heart.  I have a deep abiding connection to each of them.  But,  I would invite Lt. Pratt's niece to provide me with contact information (private message is fine)  and substantiation of her relationship to him as she offered.    I will maintain that information in my collection records that will be passed on to my heirs.  Of course, should circumstances change of my free volition during my lifetime, I might reach out to her.   Not to be disputatious or belabor a point, but respectfully, I think it does matter that apparently Bulldog69's family was not aware of Amy's passing in Louisville last year and I do believe the circumstances that she shared with me that there was no familial relationship is relevant to my decision.   She verbalized clearly that she had considered reaching out to extended family in New England and made a conscious decision not to.   I realize this is not the resolution that Bulldog69 would like, but under the totality of the circumstances it is what I feel is appropriate for Amy's wishes.   I would encourage Bulldog69, since she has joined USMF, to photograph and post the elements of Lt. Pratt's USMC legacy that her family is caretaker of, including presumably his posthumous engraved Air Medal,  and any other ephemera, to share with others and honor his memory and service as I have tried to do.  Semper Fi and God Bless all of our Veterans who made the supreme sacrifice.   May they all never be forgotten.

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Brian Keith, dhcoleterracina, and aerialbridge please know I meant no disrespect to the efforts given to document my uncle's life and legacy.  I sincerely tried to make it clear how grateful I am to aerialbridge for his documentation and care given to him and my family with his posts.  I understand how "print" can be misunderstood but I assure you this was never my intention!   I felt if I could make a connection than maybe we could have a discussion about what could or could not be possible.  Also, I am in no way trying to disrespect Amy's wishes, I did meet her a number of times many years ago, however, as mentioned, she did not have a relationship with myself or any of our family in many, many years.

 

Aerielbridge I would love to have a private conversation with you, I did try to private message you first but it said you did not receive them.  If you would be willing to privately message me or if there is another way we can connect please let me know.

 

Thank you again and I look forward to speaking with you.

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