Family, friends and co-workers were at ease last Saturday at Clayton High School as they celebrated the homecoming of Specialist Nicholas Pruitt, who spent about six months deployed in the war on Iraq.
Nicholas was part of Army Unit 443-HET (Heavy Equipment Transporter). Nicholas was pulled from that Army Reserve unit and assigned to Iraq among strangers.
“To take him out of his unit and put him with strangers was dramatic for me,” said his mother, Gwendolyn Pruitt Donnell. “It was dramatic for him.”
Pruitt Donnell said she never wanted him to go and was trying to think of ways to block his deployment. After a heart-to-heart with her only son, she said he convinced her that he would be all right.
When he returned to St. Louis, she said “it was feeling of relief and extreme joy, after seeing everything on TV. That’s my first-born and only son and the one to carry on the family name.”
Pruitt graduated from Clayton High School, where the celebration took place. He worked at Washington University when he was assigned to Iraq.
Many of his former schoolmates, co-workers and other acquaintances celebrated with Pruitt, including the assistant principal of Clayton High School and Keith Antone of St. Paul Saturdays, a male mentoring group.
“I’m thankful to them for showing the love his family has,” his mother said. “They really appreciate the sacrifice he made leaving his job and serving his country.”
Nicholas still has his job at Washington University. A new position was created for the person who filled his position while he was in Iraq.
