Corporal Pitts was a member of Company B, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy in North Korea on 23 November 1950. He was presumed dead on 8 March 1954. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Pitts was awarded the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Prisoner of War Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Korean War Service Medal.