Published: July 22, 2009 10:21 pm      

Duncan couple loses son in shelling of Humvee

Dennis Pratt is first known local casualty in Afghanistan

DUNCAN — In October, a Duncan mother with two sons in war zones and a Sunday school class full of volunteers at City Heights Baptist Church were featured in The Banner as they worked on an ongoing “support the troops” project.

On Monday, Sinnamon Pratt and her husband, Jim, became part of a different kind of war story when a military officer and a chaplain showed up at their door and they heard the words no parent of a soldier ever wants to hear: “We are formally informing you of the death of your son, Private First Class Dennis Pratt. On behalf of President Obama, we extend gratitude for your son’s service and sympathy upon his death. He is coming home a hero.”

“I asked them over and over, ‘Is there any way it’s a mistake?’ and they said, ‘No, Ma’am, there’s no mistake,’” the grieving mother said.

The Pratts had already learned of their son’s death from their daughter-in-law, Michelle, who has been living with the couple’s two children, Collin, 8, and Caden, 3, at Fort Drum, N.Y., since her husband’s deployment to Afghanistan in January. Dennis Pratt, 34, also has a daughter, Gabby, 9, who lives in Grand Rapids, Mich.

“Michelle had called to say that she heard that her girlfriend’s best friend had been killed in a roadside bombing, and she knew Dennis was always with him. We knew Dennis was getting ready to come home Monday on leave, and they generally don’t send soldiers out then, so we told her we just had to hope and pray. We started a prayer circle, but within 20 minutes, Michelle called back to say the officers had just been to her house to tell her Den was gone,” Sinnamon Pratt said.

The Pratts have been told that their son was driving a Humvee in a convoy somewhere in Afghanistan — the exact location is classified.

“A shell hit in front of him, then another shell hit behind him. There was no place for him to go. The third shell hit the Humvee and tore it in two. There were three others killed with him, the youngest only 19. Dennis wasn’t supposed to be at that place at that time, but he always told us that the Army and serving his country was where he wanted to be. He had found his niche in life in the military,” his mother said.

Dennis Pratt had called his wife only a few hours before to tell her he was all packed and would soon be on his way home for two weeks of rest and recuperation, or “R and R.” He said he was going out on a mission — “going over the wire” in military slang, which meant he was leaving the relative safety of his home base — and that he would call her as soon as he got back to the base. Michelle told him that she and the boys were anxious to see him. She had the refrigerator full of food and, while they might not have lots of money, they would have lots of food and each other while he was home on leave.

Her last words to him were, “Take care.”

The soldiers’ bodies were flown to Dover Air Force Base in Maryland, where autopsies will be conducted. In three to five days, Dennis Pratt will be flown home to Oklahoma, but his parents don’t know exactly where.

“It might be Oklahoma City or they might fly him to Duncan. We just don’t know much at this point,” his mother said.

She does know that the services will be held in a Fort Sill chapel, and Dennis will be laid to rest in Fort Sill National Cemetery.

Michelle, a native of Chickasha, and the boys will fly home to be near family through the difficult days ahead.

“The military representatives said they would be with us every step of the way. When they took the bodies off the plane, they took them off by rank, lowest first. Dennis was the third-highest ranking, so he was third off the plane. When Michelle saw his casket, she fainted, and the officer that had been assigned to her caught her in his arms. She won’t even be allowed to see or touch Dennis until he gets to Oklahoma. Each soldier is assigned a color guard officer who is with him constantly. The guard flies with him, and the soldier is never left alone,” Sinnamon Pratt said. “An officer is assigned to the family, too.”

Her son was assigned to the 10th Mountain Artillery Division out of Fort Drum. As one of the older soldiers in his unit, his comrades fondly called him “the old man.” He had lived in Duncan for a couple of years before entering the Army, and had worked at Sellers Air Conditioning, but wasn’t really happy until he joined the Army, his mother said.

“He called from boot camp, not to say he wanted to come home, like most soldiers do, but to tell us he had found his niche in life. They made him a gunner, a position usually reserved for sergeants, and they were trying to find ways to get him promoted as soon as they could because it was unusual for a PFC to be a gunner. It was his job to sight the gun in, and then he’d fire it. He was supposed to be up in the mountains, manning the gun, not out driving a Humvee. We don’t know why he was sent out that day. All that information is classified, but they said they would tell us what happened at some point.”

Whenever Dennis would call home, his last words to his parents would always be, “’Bye, I love you. I’ve got your back. You can sleep in peace.”

Sinnamon Pratt has another son, Spec. Kyle Hansen, who came home in October from his last deployment to Iraq. Hansen plans to return to duty soon. The military has told him since his brother’s death that he will not be sent to Afghanistan, but there are no promises that he will not be sent to Iraq or some other battle zone, his mother said.

“He said, ‘Mom, I’ve gotta go back. We’ve still got a job to do. There’s no easy fix.’”

Pratt said she appreciates the efforts people make to support the troops on a personal level.

“My boys see a whole different thing than what my husband saw when he came home from Vietnam. People spat on Vietnam vets and insulted them.

“Now, people can’t do enough for soldiers. They buy them magazines and food in airports and restaurants, and walk up just to shake their hands and thank them for their service to our country. One man even offered to buy one of my sons an airline ticket home. My son explained that he couldn’t accept it, but appreciated the offer a lot. I’m proud of how people treat my boys,” she said.

The Pratts are very angry and bitter over their son’s death, however. While they are loyal Americans, and support military personnel every way they can, they do not believe the people in charge are doing enough to protect the troops in the field, she said.

“Through our group at the church, we fill the very basic needs of soldiers in combat — toilet paper, socks, sunscreen, insect repellent ... If it were not for people here at home who care about them, those military people who are fighting for our freedom wouldn’t have the necessities of life. We do not agree with the politics, but we support our military people all the way,” she said.

She vowed to continue her military support efforts, because the needs are still there, even if her son is not.

“They didn’t stop, and we’re not going to, either.”