2.  The applicant requests award of the Purple Heart for being wounded while a prisoner of war (POW) in Korea.  He also requests that his POW status be added to his DD Form 214.

3.  The applicant’s military records show he enlisted in the Regular Army on       5 October 1950.  He arrived in Korea on 10 April 1951.  He was captured on    19 May 1951.  On 28 May 1951, he was hit in the shoulder by a fragment from a rocket fired from a U.S. Air Force plane.  He was released as a POW on 23 April 1953 and was separated by reason of physical disability on 31 December 1953.

4.  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 by a medical officer, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.  Individuals wounded or killed as a result of “friendly fire” in the “heat of battle” will be awarded the Purple Heart as long as the “friendly” projectile or agent was released with the full intent of inflicting damage or destroying enemy troops or equipment.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 authorized the award of the Purple Heart to persons wounded while held as POWs before       25 April 1962.  The provision extends the current criteria for the Purple Heart to former POWs that were held prior to 25 April 1962 and suffered wounds or injuries at the hands of their captors.  (Previously, only those who became POWs after 25 April 1962 and were wounded while prisoners of foreign forces could be awarded the medal.)

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Service records show the applicant was wounded by “friendly fire” while he was a prisoner of war, for which wound he was later separated by reason of physical disability.

2.  In view of the foregoing, the applicant is entitled to award of the Purple Heart.

RECOMMENDATION:

That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing that the individual is entitled to award of the Purple Heart and that block 38 of his DD Form 214 reflect that he was a POW from 19 May 1951 to   23 April 1953.

BOARD VOTE:

                       GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

                       GRANT FORMAL HEARING

                       DENY APPLICATION

                                                                         
    CHAIRPERSON