Samuel Kyle Prater was the son of Samuel Oscar Prater and Verna Mae Mays. He was the brother of Margaret (Prater) Sparks, Horace Prater, Walter E. Prater and William Prater. Samuel attended Knoxville High School and enlisted on August 21, 1941, in Fort Oglethorpe, GA
U.S. Army Air Forces, 368th Squadron, 324th Air Service Group
He was initially buried at Bari Cemetery at Bari, Italy and reburied at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy, Plot G, Row 1, Grave 34.
The Knoxville Journal, June 12, 1945:
Mr. and Mrs. S.O. Prater of Concord have been informed by the War Department that their son, Pvt. Samuel Kyle Prater, 32, was accidentally killed in Italy on May 4. Private Prater, who was wounded on the Anzio Beachhead, had been dismissed from combat duty and was serving with a service squadron of the Fifteenth Air Force in Italy. He volunteered for the service in 1941. For the past two years he had served with a field artillery unit of the Fifth Army in Africa and Italy, prior to his transfer to the Air Force. Private Prater was a graduate of Knoxville High School.
Survivors are his parents; one sister, Mrs. W.G. Sparks; three brothers, Staff Sgt. Walter E. Prater, with the Army in Hollan, Horace Prater, U.S. Coast Guard at sea, and William Prater of Concord.
- Rank: Private
- Date of birth: 14 April 1912
- Date of death: 4 May 1945
- County: Knox
- Hometown: Concord
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 368th Squadron, 324th Air Service Group
- Theater: Europe
- Conflict: World War II
- Battles: Anzio
- Awards: Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Nettuno, Italy
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XIV, Top Panel
- Sponsored by: Kyle Prater
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