PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF: 

	BOARD DATE:            26 May 1999       
	DOCKET NUMBER:    AR1999022798

	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. Mark D. Manning		Chairperson	
	Mr. Arthur A. Omartian		Member	
	Ms. Barbara J. Ellis		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 he was wounded on 4 January 1945 at 12:20 AM by a buzz bomb that hit his fire station at an air base in Liege, Belgium.  His first sergeant was wounded and went to a hospital in Liege.  He waited to help put out some fires, and then was taken to the base dispensary for treatment.  His commanding officer completed a VA form on his behalf, and thought he would receive the Purple Heart.  If he had received the Purple Heart immediately, he would have returned home several months sooner [than he did] because the Purple Heart would have given him 8 more points. 

4.  The applicant's military records may have been lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  There are no records concerning the applicant, other than a final payment work sheet showing that he arrived in the United States on 25 December 1945 and was discharged at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas on 1 January 1946.  

5.  The applicant submits a separation qualification record (WD AGO Form 100) on a first lieutenant, which shows that that officer was separated on                     6 February 1946 at Fort Dix, New Jersey; and that he served as a fire marshal and unit commander of an aviation engineer fire fighting platoon in England, France, Belgium, and Germany.  He participated in the “blitz” of Liege, Belgium in charge of fire fighting crews – 340 fires in a 2 ½ month period (enemy bombardment fires).  He was awarded the Soldier’s Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with five service stars, and the World War II Victory Medal.

5.  The aforementioned first lieutenant, assigned to the 2010th Engineer Aviation Fire Fighting Platoon, was awarded a Soldier’s Medal for his heroism in Belgium on 31 December 1944.  That same order that awarded the first lieutenant the Soldier’s Medal, also awarded a staff sergeant of the 2010th a Purple Heart for wounds received as a result of enemy action on 4 January 1945.

6.  On 13 April 1972 this same lieutenant submitted a statement in support of the applicant, in which he said that the applicant was an enlisted soldier with his organization, and that shortly after midnight on 4 January 1945 a V-1 buzz bomb struck the fire station under control of his organization, and that the applicant received some cuts and bruises.  The fire station and 80 percent of the equipment were destroyed by the blast and resulting fires.

7.  On 27 November 1995 the lieutenant expanded on his 1972 statement, stating that two other soldiers, in addition to the applicant were injured in the bombing attack, and that the applicant and one of the other soldiers were taken to the infirmary for treatment.  The remaining soldier, the same staff sergeant who was cited in orders as receiving the Purple Heart, was immediately removed to a hospital in Liege.  He stated that although he recommended that the applicant and the soldier with him receive the Purple Heart, he presumed the recommendation was lost in the resulting administrative confusion as their injuries were treated at the base infirmary rather than the hospital.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The statement submitted by the applicant is credibly supported by statements from his former commanding officer.  The applicant was wounded in action on     4 January 1945 while assigned to an airfield at Liege, Belgium.  He is entitled to award of the Purple Heart. 

2.  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 applicant was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in action on 4 January 1945 at Liege, Belgium.

BOARD VOTE:  

__mdm___  __aao___  __bje___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999022798	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	19990526	
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.