Isaac Wesley Pritt was born January 27, 1921 in Bentree, Nicholas County, West Virginia to Wyatt Remley Pritt and Rena Clark Pritt. Isaac grew up in Lockwood, Nicholas County, and he and his family were life-long residents of the Nicholas County area.
On August 31, 1942 Isaac married Ollie Grose, a local girl from the Nicholas County community of Tipton. The newlyweds settled near Isaac's family in the Lockwood area, and Isaac was employed as a timber cutter.
Isaac was inducted into the United States Army at Huntington, West Virginia on September 3, 1942 and began active service on September 17 of that year at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. During his time before going overseas, Isaac also became a father when Ollie gave birth to a baby boy, Henry Davis Pritt, on May 3, 1943. Sadly, the baby died of cholera on July 29, shortly before Isaac was sent overseas to the European Theater on October 21, 1943 to serve with the 557th Quartermaster Railhead Company.
Isaac Pritt was killed in action during Exercise Tiger on April 28, 1944. His body was returned to the United States and he is buried near his infant son in the Morris Family Cemetery in Nicholas County. In recognition of his honorable service in World War II, and for his ultimate sacrifice, Isaac Wesley Pritt's name was one of the original names inscribed on the West Virginia Veteran's Memorial.
West Virginians in Exercise Tiger
West Virginia Veterans Memorial Archives Database
West Virginia Archives and History