Howard Clifton Pruitt was born on July 5, 1888, in Wilkes County, North Carolina. Pruitt was a farmer when he registered for the draft (World War I) in June 1917. He was subsequently drafted into the service in October 1917 and served in the 316th Field Artillery and the 120th Infantry until discharged by an order of the secretary of war in February 1918. Pruitt died in Mountain Home, Tennessee, on March 15, 1962.