PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF: 

	BOARD DATE:            12 May 1999       
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999021783

	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. George D. Paxson		Chairperson	
	Mr. Arthur A. Omartian		Member	
	Mr. James E. Anderholm		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 and any other award or decoration that he may be entitled.

3.  The applicant states, in effect, that he sustained wounds in the Korean War, was awarded the Purple Heart in the hospital in Japan, but his DD Form 214 (Report of Separation from the Armed Forces of the Unites States) does not show this medal.  In support of his application, he submits a copy of his DD Form 214, a letter he wrote to the Demobilized Personnel Records Branch on 
26 August 1954 seeking correction of his records to show award of the Purple Heart and a Veterans Administration, Board of Veterans Appeals letter, dated
29 August 1956.  

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 enlisted on
24 January 1951, served in Korea for almost one year and was honorably separated on 25 January 1954.  The applicant’s DD Form 214 does not show the Purple Heart as an authorized award.

5.  The Office of the Surgeon General Hospital List shows the applicant was hospitalized on 7 July 1952 for multiple wounds sustained as a result of hostile action in Korea.    

6.  The available records do not indicate the unit to which the applicant was assigned during his assignment in Korea.

7.  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, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Evidence of record shows the applicant was wounded on 7 July 1952 in Korea as a result of hostile action; therefore, he is entitled to award of the Purple Heart.

2.  There is no evidence of record available to the Board which shows the applicant’s unit during his assignment in Korea.  Therefore, the Board is unable to determine entitlement to any other awards or decorations.

3.  In view of the foregoing, the applicant’s records should be corrected 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 Purple Heart.

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

BOARD VOTE:  

GDP____  AAO____  JEA_____  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		George D. Paxson______
		CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999021783	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	19990512	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	19540125	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR 615-360  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(GRANT)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	107	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.