This Day in History: “Kitten Marine, Korea”

On and around this day in 1953, a photo of a United States Marine is published in nearly two thousand newspapers, including the February edition of All Hands magazine, a U.S. Navy publication.  The photo depicted then-Sgt. Frank Praytor hand-feeding a baby kitten with a small medicine dropper.

The two-week old kitten’s mother had been killed during the fighting at Bunker Hill.

The photo, the U.S. Naval Institute concludes, “would prove to be more that just an endearing moment of humanity captured in the midst of a brutal war, it would later save [Praytor] from being court martialed.”

Frank Praytor was a Marine serving as a combat correspondent with the 1st Marine Division in Korea 1952 when the photo was snapped. He’d named the kitten “Miss Hap” because “she was born at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The photo, once published, was an instant sensation. Women from the states wrote Praytor, asking if he were married. And, if not, did he want to be? When the women didn’t know his name, they simple addressed their letters to “Kitten Marine, Korea.”

“I got letters from girls all over the country who wanted to marry me,” Praytor laughed as he told the story decades later. “I even got a few offers from men.”

In the meantime, Praytor was continuing his work as a journalist, but he also had a side hobby as a photographer.  He entered one of these pictures in a contest for Photography magazine—and he won! He’d captured a moment when a wounded Marine was being treated by a Navy corpsman.

The only problem?  He’d failed to get the appropriate approvals before submitting the photos. A court martial beckoned.

Would you believe the commandant tore up the papers, rather than follow through on the court martial?

“I’m certain ‘that cat’ played a silent-but-significant role in my being excused from brig time.“ Praytor wrote decades later. “After all, I had become a celebrity of sorts and the prize-winning photo made a positive rather than negative impact on the Marine Corps’ image.”

The kitten he’d once rescued was now saving him. “That little kitten saved me from the brig,” he concluded.

In the end, Praytor received his photo prize, then he returned to Korea as a writer for Stars and Stripes.  Miss Hap was still there, serving as a mascot of sorts for the Division’s Public Information Office.

According to some reports, she wasn’t just a mascot. She was a spoiled mascot.

To answer the unspoken question, yes, Praytor did get married. When he passed away in 2018, at the age of 90, he left behind his wife of more than 46 years, plus children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

“Frank was, first and foremost, a good human being,” one of his fellow Marines concluded. “That picture of him caring for a kitten lost on the battlefield wasn’t just cute; it captured his character. Beyond that, he was an elegant writer and master communication strategist. I was fortunate to be able to count him both a mentor and friend.” 

Primary Sources:

• Daniel Roth, 'It captured his character': Marine veteran pictured in iconic photograph feeding an orphaned KITTEN on the battlefield during the Korean War dies aged 90 (Daily Mail; Jan. 27, 2018)

• Korean War Marine Made Famous in Kitten Photo Dies (USNI News; Jan. 25, 2018)

• NH 97165 “Miss Hap” in Korea (Naval History and Heritage Command)

• Nicole Bauke, Marine feeding kitten in famous Korean War photograph dies at 90 (Marine Times; Jan 29, 2018)

• Seth Robson, Former Korean War correspondent photographed feeding orphaned kitten dies (Stars & Stripes; Jan. 24, 2018)

• Substitute (Hartford Courant; Oct. 26, 1952) (part III, p. 12)

• Universal Language . . . Food (Ottawa County Exponent; Feb. 6, 1953) (p. 9)

• Wade-Praytor Vows Solemnized in Tokyo (Birmingham News; Oct. 8, 1953) (p. 57)