PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:           10 June 1999                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1998012407

	I certify that hereinafter is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in the case of the above-named individual.  

	Mr. Loren G. Harrell		Director	
	Mrs. Nancy Amos		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Samuel A. Crumpler		Chairperson	
	Ms. Shirley L. Powell		Member	
	Mr. Elzey J. Arledge, Jr.		Member	

	The applicant and counsel if any, did not appear before the Board.

	The Board considered the following evidence:

	Exhibit A - Application for correction of military 
                records
	Exhibit B - Military Personnel Records (including
	            advisory opinion, if any)

FINDINGS:

1.  The applicant has exhausted or the Board has waived the requirement for exhaustion of all administrative remedies afforded by existing law or regulations.

2.  The applicant requests that his records be corrected to show that he served as a Corporal.

3.  The applicant’s son states, in effect, that his father was reduced in rank by the Germans for escaping from a prisoner of war (POW) camp.  He was a Corporal when he was captured approximately 3 January 1945 and he was released as a Private in the spring.  He (the son) includes as supporting documentation a letter from him to President Clinton; three newspaper articles on his father’s capture, return home and receipt of the Purple Heart 38 years late; copies of letters to/from the International Red Cross, American Red Cross, Center of Military History, National Archives, Don F. Pratt Museum, two German agencies, the Chief of Legislative Liaison reference his father’s award of the Bronze Star Medal, the Secretary of the Army reference his father’s award of the POW Medal, the VA reference his father’s service-connected disabilities, and Senator Graham reference his father’s disability compensation; his father’s birth certificate; a listing of European Theater World War II POWs; a copy of one letter with envelope and one envelope and change of address card from his father; a copy of a Request for Decoration and/or citation; and a copy of his father’s discharge certificate.

4.  The applicant’s military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  Information contained herein was obtained from documents provided by the applicant and from his Final Payment Worksheet.

5.  The applicant was inducted into the Army on 13 February 1943. 

6.  On 28 January 1944, the applicant had completed a change of address card and annotated his grade as “T/5.”  

7.  He arrived in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) on 2 February 1944. 

8.  The applicant wrote to his family from England on 10 March 1944 giving his rank as Corporal.  He wrote again and on the envelope postmarked 23 April 1944 he gives his rank as Corporal.

9.  The applicant was captured by the Germans apparently sometime in January 1945 and liberated sometime in the Spring of 1945.  He departed the ETO on    22 May 1945 and returned stateside on 3 June 1945.

10.  (The POW listing either refers to another individual with the same name as the applicant or just contains erroneous information.  It lists his grade as “PVT,” 

his date of loss as 6 June 1945, which is not consistent with his verified frostbite injuries, and his date of return to military control as 28 July 1945, which is not consisted with his discharge certificate.)

11.  On 22 October 1945, the applicant was honorably discharged.  His discharge certificate shows his grade as Private First Class and his highest grade held as Private First Class.  His Final Payment Work Sheet shows his grade as Private First Class.

12.  In 1989, the VA informed the applicant that his disability rating would remain unchanged at 80 percent.  His service connected disabilities were 70 percent nervous condition; 10 percent gunshot wound each to his right and left hand; 10 percent frozen feet; zero percent malnutrition and zero percent gunshot wound of parietal area.

13.  In 1993, the applicant wrote to Senator Graham, apparently complaining of the VA’s ratings.  In his statement he wrote “…I was a POW in Germany.  I was wounded.  I returned to the U. S. troops as a Corporal, then I was demoted a Pvt. When I got out of service they made me PFC…”

14.  Army Regulation 624-200 governed enlisted promotions at the time.  Appointments were both temporary and permanent. 

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  In order to justify correction of a military record the applicant must show to the satisfaction of the Board, or it must otherwise satisfactorily appear, that the record is in error or unjust.  Because the applicant’s records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973 and because 50 years have passed since his separation, there is no available evidence to show Government administrative error and the applicant submits no such evidence.

2.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Board concludes that the applicant’s medical condition at the time of his release (frostbite injuries and malnutrition) could have precluded any misconduct on his part and so his “demotion” may have been an administrative action reverting him back to his permanent grade.  

3.  Self-authored documents (a letter, two envelopes, and a change of address card) submitted by the applicant tend to support his contention that he held the grade of Corporal at one time.  While these are not official documents, the Board believes that the applicant may very well have held the temporary grade of Corporal at one time even though his permanent grade was some lower grade.

4.  In view of the foregoing and as an exception to policy, it would be in the interest of justice to correct the applicant’s records as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by changing the applicant’s discharge certificate block 18, highest grade held, to read Corporal.

2.  That so much of the application as is in excess of the foregoing be denied 

BOARD VOTE:  

__sac___  __slp___  __eja___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		Samuel A. Crumpler
		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1998012407	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	19990610	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(GRANT)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	131.00	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.