2.  The applicant requests correction of his records to show he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart and the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB). 

3.  The applicant’s military records show he enlisted in the Regular Army on        1 April 1941.  He served in the Asiatic Pacific Theater and saw service in the Central Pacific and New Guinea campaigns as a rifleman and first scout with an Army Air Corps unit.  His report of separation shows he was awarded the CIB.

4.  In December 1996, the Army Reserve Personnel Center authorized issuance of the Bronze Star Medal and the Combat Infantryman Badge to the applicant.

5.  In 1997, the Air Force Personnel Center authorized issuance of the Army Good Conduct Medal.

6.  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.

7.  The applicant’s medical records are not available.  In an earlier attempt to obtain his awards, the applicant noted that he was wounded while in the interior of New Guinea.  An medical aide sewed up his scalp wound and later failed to document the wound and treatment.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant’s record of separation already shows he was awarded the CIB.

2.  Evidence in the records shows the applicant was authorized award of the Bronze Star Medal and the Army Good Conduct Medal.

3.  Evidence in the applicant’s records does not support his claim for award of the Purple Heart and he has not supplied any evidence such as credible statements from witnesses attesting to his being wounded and treated by medical personnel.

4.  In view of the foregoing, it would be proper to correct the applicant’s records as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing that the individual concerned was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Army Good Conduct Medal.

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

BOARD VOTE:

                       GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

                       GRANT FORMAL HEARING

                       DENY APPLICATION

                                                                         
    CHAIRPERSON