PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF: 

	BOARD DATE:              11 August 1999                 
	DOCKET NUMBER:      AR1999108315

	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	
	Ms. Wanda L. Waller		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. John H. Kern		Chairperson	
	Mr. Walter T. Morrison		Member	
	Mr. John P. Infante		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 award of the Purple Heart.

3.  The applicant states, in effect, that he should be awarded the Purple Heart for combat related cold weather injuries he sustained to his feet on 17 December 1944.  In support of his application, he submits copies of his Separation Qualification Record; an extract from Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) on the Purple Heart; a 15 October 1997 letter requesting copies of his medical records; medical records related to his trench foot injuries; a 18 July 1998 letter from a fellow soldier attesting to the fact that the applicant received cold weather injuries to his feet on 17 December 1944; an article from the Golden Acorn News dated August 1986; documentation pertaining to assignments of the 87th Infantry; a 19 August 1998 letter requesting award of the Purple Heart; and a DA Form 1577 dated 27 June 1997.          

4.  The applicant’s military records were destroyed or lost during the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  Records available to the Board were obtained from alternate sources and show that the applicant was inducted on
18 March 1944.  He served as a light machine gunner in the European Theater of Operations from 20 October 1944 through 25 February 1945 and was honorably discharged by reason of physical disability (trench foot, bilateral) on
18 December 1945.

5.  The applicant’s WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation), which was authenticated in his own hand, does not show the Purple Heart as an authorized award.  Item 34 (Wounds Received in Action) of the
WD AGO Form 53-55 states “None”. 

6. There is no evidence in the available records that show the applicant was awarded the Purple Heart or was wounded as a result of hostile action.  

7.  The applicant provided copies of medical documentation showing that he was diagnosed with trench foot, bilateral, on 17 December 1944.

8.  DA Form 1577 (Authorization for Issuance of Awards), dated 27 June 1997, shows that the Army Reserve Personnel Center in St. Louis, Missouri, determined that the applicant was entitled to the Bronze Star Medal (based on award of the Combat Infantryman Badge), the Good Conduct Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze service star, the World War II Victory Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII.  These awards are also not shown on the applicant’s WD AGO Form 53-55.  

9.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) 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.  The regulation also states that frostbite and trench foot injuries are examples of injuries or wounds which clearly do not qualify for award of the Purple Heart.

10.  While award of the Purple Heart for frostbite injuries is currently prohibited, such injuries were previously a basis for the award.  Until 1951 Army Regulation 600-45, which governed the award of Army decorations, stated that for the purpose of considering an award of the Purple Heart, a “wound” is defined as an injury to any part of the body from an outside force, element, or agent sustained while in action in the fact of the armed enemy or as a result of a hostile act of such enemy.  An “element” pertains to weather and the award of this decoration to personnel who were severely frostbitten while actually engaged in combat is authorized.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  There is no evidence of record available to the Board, and the applicant has provided no evidence, which shows he was wounded or treated for wounds as a result of hostile action during World War II.

2.  Medical evidence of record shows the applicant was diagnosed with trench foot, bilateral, on 17 December 1944.  Although the applicant contends that he should be awarded the Purple Heart for this combat related cold weather injury, the current governing regulation specifically states that trench foot injuries do not qualify for award of the Purple Heart.  Therefore, he is not entitled to correction of his military records to show award of the Purple Heart.

3.  The applicant was awarded the Bronze Star Medal (based on award of the Combat Infantryman Badge), the Good Conduct Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze service star, the World War II Victory Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII.  Therefore, he is entitled to correction of his military records to show these awards.

4.  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 that the individual concerned was awarded the Bronze Star Medal (based on award of the Combat Infantryman Badge), the Good Conduct Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze service star, the World War II Victory Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII.

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

BOARD VOTE:  

JHK____  WTM_____  JPI_____  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		John H. Kern__________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	19990811	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR . . . . .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	107.00	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.