PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:      

	BOARD DATE:            2 November 2000                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:    AR1999024322

	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. Carl W. S. Chun		Director	
	Mr. W. E. Schnupp		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Fred N. Eichorn		Chairperson	
	Mr. William D. Barr		Member	
	Mr. Ted S. Kanamine		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 the Purple Heart, based on wounds received while he was a Prisoner of War (POW), and the POW Medal. 

3.  The applicant states that no award of either medal was made to him.  He contends that he was a POW from 23 December 1944 to 28 March 1945. 

4.  In support of his request, he has submitted a copy of his separation document (DD Form 214), various letters and newspaper articles announcing his captivity by the German government, Western Union messages from the Secretary of the Army to his mother informing her of his release from captivity, a physician’s letter dated 29 January 1998 indicating that scars on the applicant’s wrist and forearm were the result of bullet fragments received while he was a POW and his personal affidavit to the US Total Army Personnel Command in which he sets forth the circumstances of his capture and requests the Purple Heart and all of the other awards he has earned.

5.  The applicant’s military records show that he was inducted on 29 March 1944 and served in the European Theater of Operations from September 1944 to April 1945 and was a prisoner of the German government from 23 December 1944 to 28 March 1945.  He was honorably discharged on 27 November 1945 for the purpose of reenlisting in the Regular Army.  He subsequently remained in the Regular Army and retired for length of service as a 1st sergeant on 31 August 1965.

6.  His awards include the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB), the Bronze Star Medal (based on award of the CIB), the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three Bronze Service Stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Service Stars, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal (Germany), the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, the Army Commendation Medal, the Good Conduct Medal with three Bronze Loops, the World War II Honorable Service Lapel Button, the Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar and the Sharpshooter Badge with Carbine Bar.

7.  Neither of the applicant’s two WD AGO Forms 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation) or his several DD Forms 214 reflect the Purple Heart as an authorized award nor do any of the forms show that he sustained any wounds as a result of enemy action.

8.  The applicants Official Military Personnel File contains no evidence of wounds received prior to, during or subsequent to his captivity.

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

10.  The same regulation provides that the POW Medal is authorized for any person who, while serving in any capacity with the US Armed Forces, was taken prisoner and held captive after 5 April 1917.

11. During World War II and the Korean War the Purple Heart was not awarded to soldiers who had been injured while in captivity.  Injuries sustained while a POW were considered to be the results of war crimes and not of a legal action of war.  War Department policy, at the time, required that wounds must have been received in action against the enemy or, in other words, incurred in actual combat.  Subsequent public laws and executive orders provided more latitude with respect to award of the Purple Heart to POW’s, as well as the authority to award the decoration to wounded soldiers even in the absence of a formal declaration of war.  The issue as to whether this change in policy would be implemented retroactively to POW’s from World War I, World War II and the Korean War was considered several times.  Initially it was decided that the change in policy would not be retroactively implemented.  It was concluded that it would be inappropriate for the Department of the Defense to retroactively change the standards and, in effect, countermand the decisions of the past leadership.  However, as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996 Congress authorized award of the Purple Heart to any former POW who was wounded before 25 April 1962 while held as a POW, or while being taken captive, in the same manner as a former POW who was wounded on or after that date.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The evidence of record shows that the applicant is entitled to the POW Medal for his captivity by the German government from 23 December 1944 to 28 March 1945.  He is also entitled to be issued all of the awards he earned during his service which includes, the CIB, the Bronze Star Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three Bronze Service Stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Service Stars, the United Nations Service Medal, the National 

Defense Service Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal (Germany), the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, the Army Commendation Medal, the Good Conduct Medal with three Bronze Loops, the World War II Honorable Service Lapel Button, the Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar and the Sharpshooter Badge with Carbine Bar.

2.  As noted above, having been a POW does not automatically confer entitlement to the Purple Heart.  The individual must be able to show that he was wounded as a result of hostile action during the process of being taken captive or while he was a POW.

3.  While it may be exceedingly difficult for a POW to document injuries suffered at the hands of his captors, information of such injuries is usually apparent at the time of release or is reported by the POW when repatriated and is recorded in official record.  In this case, however, the only evidence that purports to show he was wounded while a POW is the physician’s letter of 29 January 1998.  In this letter the history of his scars to the wrist and forearm appear to have been related by the applicant himself rather than determined from an independent source or from official records.  As such it does not meet the standard for award of the Purple Heart.

4.  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: 

	a.  showing that the individual concerned was awarded the POW Medal for his period of captivity during World War II; and

	b.  issuing to him the POW Medal and the CIB, the Bronze Star Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three Bronze Service Stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Service Stars, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal (Germany), the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, the Army Commendation Medal, the Good Conduct Medal with three Bronze Loops, the World War II Honorable Service Lapel Button, the Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar and the Sharpshooter Badge with Carbine Bar.

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

BOARD VOTE:  

__fne___  ___wdb _  ____tsk __  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		_________Fred N. Eichorn________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999024322	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20001102	
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.   130.00		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.