Korean War Marine Made Famous in Kitten Photo Dies

By: Chas Henry and US Naval Institute Staff

Then Sgt. Frank Praytor in Korea with the kitten ‘Mis Hap’ in 1953.

Frank Praytor, the U.S. Marine who gained a level of fame after being photographed nursing a kitten during the Korean War, died on January 10, 2018 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was 90 years old and had been in poor health for several years.

The widely distributed photo of Praytor with the kitten would prove to be more that just an endearing moment of humanity captured in the midst of a brutal war, it would later save him from being court martialed.

While serving as a combat correspondent with the 1st Marine Division in Korea 1952, Praytor took two orphaned newborn kittens under his care. An internationally syndicated photograph of him using a medicine dropper to gently feed one of the kittens he had named “Mis Hap” appeared in 1,700 newspapers.

The image of a handsome Marine helping a tiny animal struck a chord with the public. Praytor received hundreds of letters including many simply addressed to “Kitten Marine, Korea.”

“I got letters from girls all over the country who wanted to marry me,” Praytor told the U.S. Naval Institute in a 2009 interview. “I even got a few offers from men,” he laughed.

Although officially assigned to Korea as a writer, he also took photos with his own camera and entered one of his snapshots in a competition held by Photography magazine. His photo of a wounded Marine being treated by Navy corpsman won first place. Unfortunately, he had violated a regulation prohibiting the publication of photos not cleared by military censors.

Soon after returning to the United States to accept his prize, he was facing court-martial. He was relieved to learn that he would not be charged because the commandant of the Marine Corps had decided to rip up the documents.

“I assume the commandant realized I was a celebrity at the time and he let me off the hook, and for that I attribute to the cat,” Praytor said.
“That little kitten saved me from the brig.”

Born Franklin Denson Praytor on September 24, 1927, Praytor spent his early years in Birmingham, Alabama.

In 1947 he began work in journalism — as a police reporter for the Birmingham News. While attending Birmingham Southern College he wrote for the Birmingham Age-Herald. That led to a post as northern Alabama bureau manager for the news agency International News Service.

Joining the U. S. Marine Corps in 1950, he was assigned to report on the 1st Marine Division’s combat engagements on the Korean peninsula.

After accepting his prize for winning the contest and narrowly escaping court-martial, he returned to Korea as a writer for Stars and Stripes and covered the Korean War truce-signing at Panmunjom. He also had a reunion with “Mis Hap” who had become the spoiled mascot of the Division’s Public Information Office. For the next two years of his Stars and Stripes reporting, he was based in Tokyo.

Discharged from the Marines in 1954, Praytor took on corporate communications jobs with utility companies in Houston, Texas — then moved to Oklahoma where he served as spokesman for the astronautics division of General Dynamics Corporation. Returning to Houston in 1962, he worked as an account executive with the advertising agency Foote, Cone & Belding before launching his own advertising and public relations firm, which he ran for many years.

In late 1979, Praytor moved to Durango, Colorado. There he created highly successful tourism campaigns for the City of Durango and oversaw advertising and communications strategies for a number of political campaigns. While in Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado, he was active in Rotary Club activities, holding senior leadership posts.

In 1992, Praytor relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he worked as a freelance writer, public relations consultant and Realtor.

Praytor was preceded in death by his parents, three brothers, a sister and his stepson Robert. He is survived by Katherine Praytor, his wife of more than 46 years; granddaughter Nicole; grandson Jacob; great-grandsons, Landon, Brantley and Brendyn; and great-granddaughter Preslie.