PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF: 

	BOARD DATE:               23 December 1998
	DOCKET NUMBER:       AC98-06899
				       AR1998012756

	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. Hubert S. Shaw, Jr.		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Raymond V. O’Connor, Jr.		Chairperson	
	Ms. Karol A. Kennedy		Member	
	Mr. Lester Echols		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, in effect, two awards of the Purple Heart and correction of his records to show marksmanship badges.

3.  The applicant states he had a head and neck injury recorded in his records, but that according to his Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) claim file he was not even in the state when the accident allegedly took place.  He contends that he did not receive his marksmanship medals from basic training and that his records do not show on him “being hurt or wounded four times while in service. two of which should have had the Purple Heart.”  The applicant states that while he was firing a 50 Caliber Machinegun he slipped and fell off a tank because his gloves and boots were frozen and he could not hang on to the machinegun he was firing.  He states that he was taken to a convent being used as a field hospital or dressing station and was treated by a doctor.  The applicant also states that he was injured a second time when in late January or early February 1945 an enemy rocket hit the house in which he and other soldiers were sleeping.  He states that he received a cut above the right eye which a medic dressed with gauze and tape.  In support of his application, the applicant submits an addendum to his application, a letter of explanation, two letters of support from a fellow soldier, both dated 16 September 1995, and a 1980 and 1982 medical evaluation of the applicant’s back and upper torso.

4.  The applicant’s military records were partially destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  The damaged records and records from alternate sources were available to the Board.  Records show the applicant was inducted on 30 December 1941.  He served in the European Theater of Operations from 25 February 1944 through 29 September 1945 as a machinist in an ordnance company and was honorably discharged on 18 October 1945.

5.  The applicant’s WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation), which is authenticated in his own hand and with his right thumb print, does not show any awards of the Purple Heart in item 33 (Decorations and Citations) and shows “None” in item 34 (Wounds Received in Action). 

6.  The applicant’s discharge also shows he qualified as Sharpshooter on the Carbine and qualified as a 2nd Class Gunner on the 50 Caliber Machinegun.  His WD AGO Form 24 (Service Record) shows he qualified as a Sharpshooter with a score of 166 on 30 September 1943 with the Carbine.  His WD AGO Form 24 also shows he qualified as a 2nd Class Gunner with the 50 Caliber Machinegun with a score of 152 on 9 September 1943.

7.  The Board notes the applicant’s records contain a DA Form 1577 (Authorization for Issuance of Awards), dated 2 April 1993, which shows he is entitled to the Presidential Unit Emblem, the Meritorious Unit Emblem, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the Army of Occupation Medal with German Clasp which are not shown on his discharge document.

8.  There is no evidence of record which shows the applicant received any awards of the Purple Heart.  There is no evidence of record which shows the applicant was wounded or treated for wounds due to hostile action.  Medical records provided by the DVA show the applicant sustained a laceration to the head in October 1942 in California and was admitted to a hospital in New York on 13 October 1943 for a metal fragment just outside the left parietal bone of his skull resulting from the accident in California.

9.  One of the letters submitted by a fellow soldier was an eye witness statement in which he describes the applicant was firing at attacking German airplanes with a 50 Caliber Machinegun on 19 December 1944 when he slipped and fell off of a tank.  In a second statement, the same fellow soldier writes that sometime in February 1945 he saw bandage over the applicant’s right eye and rubbed dirt on the bandage to camouflage it and that the applicant was hurt due to enemy action.  The medical evaluations provided by the applicant show only that disc degeneration and no evidence of fractures or dislocations noted.

10.  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.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  There is no evidence of record available to the Board, and the applicant has provided no evidence of record, which shows that he was awarded the Purple Heart.

2.  There is no medical evidence of record which shows the applicant was wounded or treated for wounds or injuries resulting from hostile action.

3.  The Board noted the statements of support from the fellow soldier.  However, these statements were made over 50 years after the fact and alone are not sufficient as bases for award of the Purple Heart, especially in the absence of any supporting evidence of record and the applicant’s own signature on his discharge showing that he was not authorized the Purple Heart and was not wounded in action.  Based on the foregoing, the applicant is not entitled to award of the Purple Heart.

4.  The applicant’s discharge document shows the marksmanship qualifications as recorded in his service record; therefore, this information is correct as currently constituted and will not be changed.

5.  The applicant is entitled to award of the Presidential Unit Emblem, the Meritorious Unit Emblem, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the Army of Occupation Medal with German Clasp.  Therefore, he is entitled to correction of his records to show these awards.

6.  In view of the foregoing findings and conclusions, it would be appropriate to correct the applicant’s records, but only as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing the individual concerned was awarded the Presidential Unit Emblem, the Meritorious Unit Emblem, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the Army of Occupation Medal with German Clasp.

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

BOARD VOTE:  

RVO____  KAK____  LE______  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AC9806899/AR1998012756	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	1998/12/23	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR . . . . .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY	MR HARRELL	
ISSUES         1.	107.00	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.