FLORIEN, La. – The remains of a U.S. Army serviceman who died as a prisoner of war during World War II will be buried Tuesday with full military honors.

U.S. Army Pvt. Blanchard E. Pruitt, 19, of Florien, died on Jan. 1, 1943.

Pruitt was a member of the Medical Detachment, 31st Infantry Regiment, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands. He was among thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members who were captured and interned at POW camps when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered. They were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March then held at the Cabanatuan POW Camp No. 1, one of the largest Japanese POW camps in the Philippines.

Pruitt died of pellagra, a disease caused by severe malnutrition and the brutal conditions endured as a prisoner of war. He was buried in the Ca

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