He served as a battalion sergeant major in the U.S. Army during World War I, headquartered in the Company 813 Pioneer Infantry, stationed in France for nearly a year in 1918 and 1919.
In this position, for which he travelled internationally, he interviewed prominent world figures, such as: John F. Kennedy, Haile Selassie, Eleanor Roosevelt, Malcolm X, Jackie Robinson, W.E.B.
Du Bois, Richard Nixon, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Thurgood Marshall, Elijah Muhammad, Langston Hughes, Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and many others.
[1] During his time at Chicago Defender Prattis curated and founded and was executive editor the first known black magazine called "The Light and Heebie Jeebies".
[2] In 1947, Prattis was unanimously granted membership in the U.S. Senate and House press galleries by the executive committee of the Periodical Correspondents Association.