DOB/DOD: April 6, 1919 (Vista, NY) – April 5, 1943; 23 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: 85 Wall Street, Norwalk
SERVICE NUMBER: 20132980
UNIT: 643rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, Headquarters Company
FAMILY: Born to Alonzo G. Knapp Sr. (1881-1946) and Ruby M. West Knapp (1893-1928). One brother, Alonzo G. Knapp Jr. (1920-1982).
CIRCUMSTANCES: Lloyd was killed while escorting a prisoner at Camp Hood, Texas. Roy A. Prentiss from Winsted, Connecticut, was being escorted by Corporal Knapp when he took Knapp’s gun, shot him dead, then shot himself in the head but survived. He was sentenced to death by hanging in a court martial on July 8, 1943. President Roosevelt commuted the sentence to life in prison. Roy Prentiss died in 1979.
OTHER: [from FindAGrave.com for Roy Prentiss] On April 6, 1943, Lloyd Knapp was stationed at Camp Hood (now Fort Hood) in Texas. He lived in Brewster, New York, and was in the Army at that time. He was an MP at the camp and was in charge of base security, etc., as all the other MPs were. One night, some sort of infraction happened
there involving Roy A. Prentiss, also in the Army from Winsted, Connecticut. A security vehicle was called, maybe to transport Prentiss from wherever he was to the brig. There was an MP driver, and Lloyd was the MP to take charge of Prentiss. At some point in the commute, Prentiss struggled with Lloyd in the back of the vehicle. Prentiss removed
Lloyd’s sidearm and shot Lloyd point blank, killing him instantly. Prentiss then instructed the driver to stop the vehicle. As the vehicle was pulling over, Prentiss pointed the gun at the driver.. the vehicle stopped, at which point Prentiss turned the gun on himself, shooting himself in the head. He remained in a coma at the base hospital for several weeks, and when he regained consciousness, he was charged with murder. It was also learned at that time that the bullet had blinded him. Sometime later, a court martial was convened, and based on the testimony of the driver, Prentiss was found guilty and scheduled to be executed.
This is where the story gets a bit convoluted. It was understood his mother was horrified at the outcome of the court martial and frantically started writing a letter to F.D.R. asking him to overturn the results. She supposedly petitioned Roosevelt several times in an effort to save her son’s life, as she was very ill and her son was her only means of support. Prentiss had a brother, Kenneth, and a sister. It seems that somebody, somewhere at sometime intervened in this case as Roy’s life was spared, but then he did go to prison. The US Army contacted the family in the early 70s concerning the release of Roy. His father was Alonzo Griff Knapp, then living in Toms River, New Jersey, and they wanted to know from him if he had any objection to Prentiss being released. He did not, and that was that.
Petitioner also alleges that he has recovered his memory and seeks to present what he claims to be facts he now recalls. An attempt to co-ordinate various allegations in the papers filed by him compels one to doubt any such recovery of memory. It partakes more of an imaginative reconstruction in a light favorable to him. The question of guilt or innocence is not, however, as already indicated before us. “Obviously, it cannot be said that they have refused to fairly consider claims not asserted.” “Nor can a claim that after discovered evidence will tend to show that the accused did not commit the crime be made the basis of habeas corpus in any event. The Rule to Show Cause will accordingly be discharged, and the application for a writ of habeas corpus in forma pauperis will be denied.”
From The Hartford Courant July 10, 1943
Private Roy A. Prentiss, charged with killing a Norwalk, Connecticut soldier assigned to escort him to the guard house at Camp Hood, Texas, has been convicted by general court-martial and sentenced to hang, the Associated Press reported Friday night. Prentiss, whose mother, Mrs. Emma Prentiss, lives at 93 Elm Street, Winsted, Connecticut, was being taken to the stockade by Corporal Lloyd W. Knapp of Norwalk when it was charged; he seized Knapp’s pistol and shot him. Prentiss then shot himself in the head. He lay near death for some time in a Temple, Texas hospital. At the time, another son, Corporal Kenneth Prentiss, stationed at Camp Breckenridge, Kentucky, was given leave to go to Texas to see his brother and later returned to Winsted for a short furlough with his mother. Before entering the Army, Prentiss had a police record, which included convictions for driving while his license was suspended, breach of peace, and intoxication at various times between 1939 and July 1941. Mrs. Prentiss said Friday night that she had not heard of the court martial sentence. She had recently received a letter from her son asking her to come to see him and send cigarettes and shaving cream. Told that only President Roosevelt could save her son, she said she would ask her attorney, Judge H.H. Howd, to write a letter for her to the President. “Roy is a good boy”, she said. “He only gets into trouble when he drinks.” She said she had been saving money in order to make the trip to Texas.
New York Daily News, September 8, 1943
FDR COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE
President Roosevelt has commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence of Private Roy A Prentiss of Winsted, Connecticut, convicted of the fatal shooting on April 4 of Corporal Lloyd W. Knapp, 23, of Norwalk, Connecticut, a sentry at Camp Hood, Texas, Congressman Joseph E. Talbot of Naugatuck revealed today. Prentiss, who later shot himself through the head and lost sight of both eyes, was sentenced to death for the shooting by a court martial last month.
Private Knapp is interred at Milltown Cemetery, 134 Milltown Road, Brewster, New York. Photo by webmaster.
END
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