MEMORANDUM OF CONSIDERATION

	IN THE CASE OF:   

	BOARD DATE:            29 April 1999     
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AC74-01985B
			              AR1999015125

	I certify that hereinafter is recorded the record of consideration of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in the case of the above-named individual.

	Mr. Loren G. Harrell		Director	
	Mr. Kenneth Aucock		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. Ann M. Campbell		Chairperson	
	Mr. Edwin S. Castle		Member	
	Mr. Christopher J. Prosser		Member	

	The Board, established pursuant to authority contained in 10 U.S.C. 1552, convened at the call of the Chairperson on the above date.  In accordance with Army Regulation 15-185, the application and the available military records pertinent to the corrective action requested were reviewed to determine whether to authorize a formal hearing, recommend that the records be corrected without a formal hearing, or to deny the application without a formal hearing if it is determined that insufficient relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the existence of probable material error or injustice.

	The applicant requests correction of military records as stated in the application to the Board and as restated herein.

	The Board considered the following evidence:

	Exhibit A - Application for correction of military records
	Exhibit B - Military Personnel Records (including
	            advisory opinion, if any)

APPLICANT REQUESTS:  In effect, the applicant requests that his dishonorable discharge be upgraded to honorable.  

APPLICANT STATES:  That he entered the Army in 1940 and was discharged in 1945, reenlisting in 1948.  He married his wife that year and they had four children.  He went from Germany (date not specified) to Fort Lewis, Washington and then to Fort Knox, Kentucky.  He requested transportation for his wife and children from their home in North Platte, Nebraska to Fort Lewis, and then to Fort Knox, and received a bit more than $600.00.  Before he left the bank, he changed his mind and turned all the money back to the government.  He went to the hospital and checked into the psychiatric ward, and was transferred to a hospital in Maryland.  He went AWOL, returned to Fort Knox and turned himself in.  He was tried before a general court-martial and received a one year sentence at Fort Leavenworth.  He was released after nine months and dishonorably discharged in 1959.

EVIDENCE OF RECORD:  The applicant's military records were substantially damaged in National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  Information herein was obtained from reconstructed records and from those damaged personnel records.

The applicant entered active duty on 23 December 1940, served in the European Theater of Operations from July 1944 to September 1945, and was honorably discharged at Fort Dix, New Jersey on 8 October 1945 in the grade of Private.  He had 4 years, 9 months, and 5 days of service, and 11 days of lost time (AWOL).

He reenlisted on 15 January 1948 and was honorably discharged at Fort Lewis, Washington on 28 February 1951 in the grade of Corporal.  He had 3 years, and 24 days of service, and 24 days of lost time (confined by civil authorities).

The applicant reenlisted on 1 March 1951 and was honorably discharged on 
3 March 1955.  He was AWOL for three days in September 1951.

In a letter to the Adjutant General sometime in 1952, a service officer requested assistance on behalf of the applicant’s wife and two children in order for the children to receive support from the applicant, then serving in Korea, in accordance with a court order.

 He served overseas from 25 April 1952 through 2 June 1953, and from              1 March 1954 through 18 February 1955.  On 18 September 1951 the applicant was arraigned, tried, and convicted before a summary court-martial for AWOL, and for failure to go at the time prescribed to his place of duty.  On 11 July 1953 the applicant was arraigned, tried, and convicted before a summary court-martial for failure to go at time prescribed to his place of duty. 
The applicant reenlisted on 4 March 1955.  On 19 December 1955 the applicant was arraigned, tried, and found guilty of submitting false and fraudulent claims for dependent travel on three occasions, and AWOL on three separate occasions.  He was sentenced to be dishonorably discharged, to forfeit all pay and allowances, and to be confined at hard labor for three years.  The convening authority approved the sentence, other than the period of confinement.  He reduced the period of confinement to one year.

The applicant was in confinement for 208 days.  He was dishonorably discharged on 9 March 1956.

On 10 May 1974 the applicant made application to this Board, stating that the sentence given by the court-martial was excessively severe in regard to the offenses committed, and that no consideration was given to his mental health and the fact that he had just been released from a neuropsychiatric hospital.
There is no record of the Board’s decision.  

On 31 October 1996 he again made application to this Board.  He was informed on 13 February 1998 that his records revealed that his original application had been previously considered on 18 September 1968 and again on 8 August 1974; and that because he had not submitted any new material evidence or other relevant matter, his request was not considered by the Board.

The maximum punishment authorized under the Manual for Courts-Martial, then in effect, for signing any false record is a dishonorable discharge and one year confinement. 

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(s), it is concluded:

1.  There is no error in the applicant’s records, nor an injustice done him.  His dishonorable discharge was appropriate.  He has submitted neither probative evidence nor a convincing argument in support of his request.   

2.  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.

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

___amc__  ___esc__  ___cjp__  DENY APPLICATION

						Loren G. Harrell
						Director

INDEX

CASE ID	AC74-1985B/AC1999015125	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	19990429	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR .  .  .  .  .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(DENY)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1. 110.00		
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.