PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:                              
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AC98-10323

	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. Robert J. McGowan .		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. 		Chairperson	
	Mr. 		Member	
	Mr. 		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 military records be corrected to reflect that he participated in the Ardennes-Alsace Campaign and that he was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart.

3.  The applicant states that while he was transporting a repaired tank to a forward position, he came under an artillery barrage.  He swerved, went over an embankment and ended up in a minefield.  During this incident, his glasses were broken and glass became imbedded in his eye.  He refused medical attention until he delivered the tank and returned to his unit.  He provides statements from fellow soldiers and the battalion surgeon who treated his eye wound.

4.  The applicant’s military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  Information herein was obtained from alternate sources and shows that the applicant was inducted into the Army of the United States on 11 January 1943.  Upon completion of the required training, he was assigned to Service Company, 749th Tank Battalion.  He departed for the European-African-Middle Eastern (EAME) Theater of Operation on 11 February 1944, arriving there on 24 February 1944.  He and his unit participated in five campaigns—Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe.  The applicant departed Europe on 18 November 1945 and returned to the US on 26 November 1945.  He was separated with an honorable discharge on 3 December 1945.  His WD AGO Form 53-55, Enlisted Record and Report of Separation—Honorable Discharge, credits him with four campaigns and four bronze service stars on his EAME Campaign Medal; he is not credited with participation in the Ardennes-Alsace Campaign.  Likewise. there is no indication of his having been wounded in action or being awarded the Purple Heart.

5.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained as a result of hostile action.  Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify that the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.

6.  DA Pamphlet 672-1, Unit Roster and Campaign Participation Credit Register, reflects that the 749th Tank Battalion participated in five campaigns, including the Ardennes-Alsace Campaign.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant participated in the Ardennes-Alsace Campaign and should receive credit for same on his WD AGO Form 53-55.
2.  The applicant has provided notarized statements from fellow soldiers and from the battalion surgeon attesting to the fact that he was injured during an artillery barrage while delivering a repaired tank to a forward unit.  Under the criteria established in AR 600-8-22, he is entitled to the Purple Heart.

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

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected:

a.  By showing that the individual concerned participated in the Ardennes-Alsace Campaign in addition to the four campaigns for which he already received credit; and

b.  By showing that the individual concerned was wounded in the left eye during an artillery barrage on an unknown date during the period 5-15 August 1945.

2.  That the individual concerned be issued an appropriate correction to his separation document, a European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with a silver service star denoting five campaigns, and a Purple Heart.

BOARD VOTE:  

___TDH_  __LLS___  __MDM__  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1998012744	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	19990106	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR . . . . .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(NC, GRANT , DENY, GRANT PLUS)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	107.0015	
2.	107.0065	
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.