PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:    

	BOARD DATE:           29 April 1999                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AC86-04092A
   AR1998013004

	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	
	Mr. G. E. Vandenberg		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. Ann M. Campbell. 		Chairperson	
	Mr. Edwin S. Castle		Member	
	Mr. Cristopher J. Posser		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 reconsideration of his application for the award of the Purple Heart.  The applicant states he sustained a wound to his right wrist as a result of hostile action in September 1944 at Sospel, France.

3.  The applicant again submits a personal statement from the medical person who treated him attesting to the combat nature of the wound.

4.  The Memorandum of Consideration reflecting the Board’s 9 November 1988 review of the applicant’s request is incorporated herein by reference as if wholly set forth.

5.  The applicant’s report of physical examination for discharge (WGD AGO Form 38) lists a scar on the right wrist as a result of a bullet.  It was noted as IMS, incurred in military service.

6.  Army Regulation 600-8-22, provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained while in action against the enemy or as a result of hostile action.  AR 672-5-1, paragraph 2-15.1, provides, in pertinent part, that the wound must have required treatment by a medical officer, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record. 

7.  The statements of individuals are inadequate as the sole basis for an award of the Purple Heart because they do not fulfill the regulatory requirement that there be a record of medical treatment.  However, they are normally accepted as a substantiation of the combat or the enemy origin of a wound for which there is a record of treatment.

8.  Included as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1994 was an amendment to the rules governing award of the Purple Heart. While the original rules established that the Purple Heart would be awarded to individual's killed or wounded as a result of hostile action the amendment enabled the Secretaries of each department to award the Purple Heart to members of the armed forces who were killed or wounded in action by weapon fire, while directly engaged in armed conflict, other than as the result of an act of an enemy of the United States.  This ruling, in effect, granted the service Secretaries the authority to award the Purple Heart to individuals directly engaged in armed conflict who were killed or wounded as a result of "friendly fire."

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant’s records do show that he sustained a wound to his right wrist.  Taken in concert with the personal statement submitted on his behalf, the Board is of the opinion that sufficient evidence is now of record to award the Purple Heart.  Therefore, it is in the interest of justice to show that the applicant sustained a combat wound in September 1944 and award him the Purple Heart.

2  In view of the foregoing, the applicant’s records should be corrected as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing that the individual concerned sustained a combat injury in September 1944 and was awarded the Purple Heart.

BOARD VOTE:  

___AMC_  __ESC__  ___CJP__  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______Ann M. Campbell______
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AC86-04092A/AR 1998013004	
SUFFIX		
RECON	 	
DATE BOARDED	19990429	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	 	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	 	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	  . . . . .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	46	
2.	61	
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.