PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF: 

	BOARD DATE:        10 February 1999      
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AC89-06576C
				   AR1999016182

	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. Kenneth Aucock		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Patrick Bogenberger		Chairperson	
	Mr. Elzey J. Arledge, Jr.		Member	
	Mr. Gary F. Garaets		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 reconsideration of his previous application to correct his records by awarding him the Purple Heart.  The DD Form 149 requesting reconsideration has been lost.  Instead, a letter from the applicant requesting assistance from a member of Congress is substituted herewith. 

3.  The applicant states that he has a sworn statement from the medic who treated him and two letters from the men that ran the aid station, stating that the forward aid station did not keep records (when there was heavy fighting).  Two persons remembered that he was wounded, one of which was his former company commander.  The applicant submits a document indicating that his former company commander was dying when he submitted a statement supporting the applicant’s claim for a Purple Heart.  

4.  The applicant submits an undated statement in which he states that he located the medics that ran the 398th Infantry Battalion first aid station of the   100th Infantry Division, one of whose last name is Smyth.  He asked Smyth for a copy of the diary (aid station record) for the month of April 1945.  The applicant states that they were on the move, that they did not keep records after the 10th (of April 1945), and did not put him down in the diary, and also the diary was not full proof, because if they were too busy, they did not record entries in the diary.

5.  The applicant recounts the events that led to his being wounded on                 12 April 1945, to include the account of a soldier seriously wounded on               7 April 1945.  That soldier’s name appears in the dairy (aid station book), that he submits with his application.  He stated that on the 22nd of April they did not use the diary at all.  He submits a medical document from the 2nd Battalion,          398th Infantry aid station, showing that he was tagged for hepatitis at 1930 hours on 22 April 1945; however, that information was not recorded in the dairy.

6.  In a 6 January 1998 statement the former medic, Smyth, stated that there was a forward aid station with a jeep to transport the sick back to the [battalion] aid station, which was close to 2nd battalion headquarters.  The aid station book (diary) for April 1945 (a copy which the medic furnished the applicant) was the only one.  The forward station made no records.  He stated that someone could go to another aid station and they would be in their book.  In a 10 February 1998 letter to the applicant, Smyth again stated in effect, that there was two aid stations, one forward and one with the 2nd Battalion Headquarters, and the forward did some treatment, and then only transported soldiers to the 2nd Battalion station.  The 2nd Battalion had the records and the book.  He stated that he (the applicant) probably went to the forward aid station for a dressing and back to the line; and if so, then there was no record, just as Sterk (a medic) kept no record.

7.  The diary shows no entry concerning the applicant on 12 April 1945, nor any entry at all for 22 April 1945.

8.  The applicant states that when there was heavy fighting a forward aid station was established, which did not keep records.  Anyone that came in for a dressing change and sent back to the fighting was not recorded.  They had to continue on to the aid station to be recorded.  If they had to pull back they could lose the records.  He states that the battalion aid station was across the Neckar River, and he did not remember crossing the river.

9.  The applicant submits a copy of a 9 March 1998 statement from the medic (Sterk) who treated him.  Although this statement contains no new information from that which was available to the Board in its 1992 determination, that individual continues to persist that the applicant was wounded by shrapnel, and that he treated the applicant.  He (Sterk) had this statement notarized. 
 
CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Information submitted by the applicant appears to indicate that he was wounded in action on 12 April 1945, was treated by a medic, and also by an another medic at a forward aid station.    

2.  Although there is no medical documentation to show that the applicant was wounded, the preponderance of evidence suggests that he was, in fact, wounded in action.  The statement by the one medic, Smyth, indicates that a forward aid station kept little or no records, and that the battalion aid station’s records themselves were sometimes spotty.  The Board notes that the applicant was “tagged” for hepatitis on 22 April 1945, but that information is not contained in the battalion’s record (diary) for that day.

3.  The applicant is also supported in his claim by his former company commander, who has since passed away, and the medic (Sterk) who treated him, in addition to the medic, Smyth.  The statements from Sterk have not varied over some 10 years, nor in essence, have the numerous statements made by the applicant.  He has been persistent and his assertions are believable. 

4.  In view of the foregoing, the applicant’s records should be corrected as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing that the individual concerned was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in action against an armed enemy of the United States            on 12 April 1945. 

BOARD VOTE:  

____pb__  __eja___  __gfg___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AC89-06576C/AR1999-16182	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	19990210	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR . . . . .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(NC, GRANT , DENY, GRANT PLUS)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1. 107.00		
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.