Leslie B. Pruitt
90th Infantry Division
358th Infantry Regiment
3rd Battalion
Company K
Leslie Pruitt served during WWII as an infantryman, but was never awarded the Combat Infantry Badge (CIB). He was captured and remained a POW until the war’s end when the camp was repatriated. Army regulations required that Mr. Pruitt meet the 3 prerequisites to make him eligible for award of the CIB. Research uncovered the actual reports that verified his eligibility and subsequent award of the CIB, the POW Medal and Bronze Star Medal.
A selection from the battalion’s battle history:
“The Battalion then went into Division reserve on the 5th in the town of ST JORES. Here some much needed replacements were received. July 6 and the Battalion was ordered to clean out a small German pocket of some thirty men and one officer in the vicinity of LITHAIRE. Consequently, Company I moved off and by 1725 had established contact with a sizable enemy force. The rest of the Battalion closed in on the position during the evening. All during the night reduction of the pocket continued with Company K helping out on I’s right. By dark of the 7th the pocket had been completely eliminated with well over 200 prisoners taken, plus a considerable number killed. Elements of the 82nd Air Borne who had been sitting on a high hill overlooking the scene of action, said that the entire attack was a perfect example of fire and movement.
On July 8 the Battalion moved into position on the southern slope of Hill 122 in the Foret de Mont Castre. It was here that the Battalion ran into the toughest fight it had in all the time it was in Europe and the one that earned it the Presidential Unit Citation.”
The following are Leslie Pruitt’s awards:
Combat Infantry Badge
Bronze Star Medal
Purple Heart Medal
Prisoner of War Medal
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal w/arrowhead and 5 campaign stars
WWII Victory Medal
Presidential Unit Citation
French Croix de Guerre w/Palm
Marksmanship Badge – M1 Rifle
Tyler, Texas (2011)
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