D-Day’s highest-ranking casualty
Brig. Gen. Don Pratt was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Don Pratt wasn’t supposed to be in a glider soaring over the English Channel in the early morning hours of DDay, but the University of WisconsinMadison alum wanted to be with his men.
Pratt was a brigadier general on June 6, 1944, the first day of the Allied invasion of Normandy. As deputy commander of the 101st “Screaming Eagles” Airborne Division, Pratt had been scheduled to lead the seaborne element of the division.
But Pratt wanted to go into battle as fast as possible, and since he was not qualified to jump by parachute, he sought permission from Gen. Maxwell Taylor, the 101st’s commander, to ride in the lead glider.
Because the one-star general was so important to the invasion plans, steel was welded to the bottom of his plywood glider to prevent bullets and flak from piercing the aircraft. Which worked.
However, when the engine-less glider landed in a French field and the pilots applied the brakes, the plane skidded along the wet grass and overran the landing zone before hitting a grove of poplar trees, killing one of the pilots and breaking the legs of the other.
Wearing a parachute in case of an emergency, as well as a Mae West life vest and steel helmet, Pratt was sitting in the front passenger seat of his jeep, which had been secured inside the glider. He spent part of the journey reading documents by flashlight. When the glider slammed into the trees, the violent stop forced Pratt to pitch forward and he died of a broken neck.
Pratt was the highest-ranking Allied officer killed on D-Day. He was 51.
Born in Brookfield, Mo., Pratt enrolled at UW, where he was a member of several student clubs, including the Dixie Club, which included students from southern states; Phi Delta Theta fraternity; and the Friars Club, according to the Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Foundation. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army in August 1917, a few months after graduating from UW.
Pratt did not fight in World War I, but he served as adjutant of the 15th Infantry Regiment in China from 1932 to 1936 and then returned to America to serve as an infantry instructor at Fort Benning, Ga., from 1937 until 1941.
When the U.S. entered World War II, Pratt was named chief of staff of the 43rd Infantry Division and in August 1942 became deputy commander of the 101st Airborne Division.
The 101st gained its “Screaming Eagle” insignia — which Pratt wore on the shoulder of his uniform just like all other 101st soldiers — when it was a reserve unit headquartered in Milwaukee in the 1920s. The Screaming Eagle is based on Old Abe, an eagle taken into battle with the 8th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment during the Civil War.
Pratt’s body was wrapped in a parachute and buried near the crashed glider in a French pasture. In July 1948, he was reburied at Arlington National Cemetery.
Pratt’s death was portrayed in the film “Saving Private Ryan,” though his name was changed to a fictional character, Brig. Gen. Amend.
A museum at Fort Campbell, Ky., the headquarters of the 101st Airborne Division, was named after Pratt when it opened in 1956.
“When they opened this museum, the fact they remembered him was a great tribute,” said museum Director John O’Brien. “He was kind of the old man amongst all those paratroopers; they had 28-year-old colonels. He was known as an old Army guy who mentored younger officers.”
For more information, go to fortcampbell.com/museums/don-f -pratt-museum.