APPLICANT REQUESTS:  That he be awarded the Bronze Star Medal (BSM).

APPLICANT STATES:  In effect, that he received a Certificate of Merit for his “conspicuously meritorious service in Germany from 4 November 1944 to           7 March 1945 in connection with military operations against the enemy of the United States” and  that the regulation states that the certificate serves as a basis for award of the BSM.

EVIDENCE OF RECORD:  The applicant’s military records are not available.

WD AGO Form 100, Separation Qualification Record, states the applicant served with the 381st Field Artillery Battalion approximately 36 months.  He was in the European Theater of Operations 17 months.  He prepared firing charts for vertical and horizontal control, using protractor scale and straight edge.

Army Regulation 600-45, then in effect, provided, in pertinent part, for the award of the BSM to members of the armed forces who, after 6 December 1941 and prior to 3 September 1945, have been cited in orders or in a formal certificate for meritorious or exemplary conduct in ground combat against the armed enemy.  A citation in orders for the Combat Infantryman Badge or Medical Badge awarded in the field during the period of actual combat against the armed enemy is considered as a citation for exemplary conduct in ground combat

Army Regulation 600-8-22, now in effect, outlines basically the very same guidance.

DISCUSSION:  Considering all the evidence, allegations, and information presented by the applicant, together with the evidence of record, applicable law and regulations, and advisory opinion, it is concluded:

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.  The applicant has failed to submit evidence that would satisfy the aforementioned requirement.

2.  While the applicant obviously deserves the Certificate of Merit in recognition of his conspicuously meritorious and outstanding performance of military duty, the certificate does not verify the regulation’s guidance that the service must have been performed in “ground combat.”

3.  In view of the foregoing, there is no basis for granting the applicant’s request.
DETERMINATION:  The applicant has failed to submit sufficient relevant evidence to demonstrate the existence of probable error or injustice.

BOARD VOTE:

                       GRANT          

                       GRANT FORMAL HEARING

                       DENY APPLICATION

						Loren G. Harrell
						Director