Ben Powers

A Connecticut Yankee in Uncle Sam’s Army

William “Bill” Pratt grew up in Plymouth, Connecticut, and graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1936. While at UCONN, Bill participated in the Reserve Officers Training Corps and was commissioned into the Army Reserve upon graduation. Within a few years, he would be at war. Pratt was called to active duty before Pearl Harbor as part of America’s preparedness movement in response to events in Europe and the Far East. After America entered the war, Pratt was assigned to the 82nd Infantry Division at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. He commanded a battery of anti-tank troops, taking them through the 82nd’s transformation to an airborne division and leading them across two continents and ten countries as they fought and defeated Axis forces. From forming and training as a team before going overseas, through learning from experience and adapting to the environment of combat, to achieving and maintaining a high professional standard, the record they established is an example of how the American Army came of age. The story of William Pratt’s service with the 82nd Airborne Division is the story of the United States Army in World War Two II in microcosm.