PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:            21 December 1999                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999024417

	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. W. E. Schnupp		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Hubert O. Fry, Jr.		Chairperson	
	Ms. Meta Waller		Member	
	Ms. Debra Williams		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 that his Army serial number be corrected, that he be awarded the Purple Heart and that he be issued the Good Conduct Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two bronze battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation.

3.  The applicant states, in effect, that his Army serial number is incorrect in that it end with a 7 instead of a 3, which is as it is shown on his dog tags, and that he be given recognition for the Purple Heart. In support of his request, he has provided a copy of his WD AGO Form 53-55, Enlisted Record and Report of Separation, a copy of his dog tags showing that his serial number ended with a   3 and a copy of General Order Number 6, 122d General Hospital, dated               31 January 1945, awarding him the Purple Heart for wounds received in action.

4.  The applicant’s military records show that he was inducted on 18 December 1942, was awarded the military occupational specialty of rifleman and served in the European Theater of Operations from September 1944 to March 1945.  He was honorably separated with a Certificate of Disability Discharge on 4 August 1945 in the grade of private.

5.  Awards reflected on his WD AGO Form 53-55 include the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Good Conduct Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal and the Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII.

6.  The general orders he provides authenticate that he should have been awarded the Purple Heart.  Furthermore, both that order and the copy of his dog tag confirm that his Army serial number should end with the digit 3.

7.  Subsequent to the cessation of hostilities during World War II, the regulation governing the award of the Bronze Star Medal was changed, in part, to provide for the award of this decoration to those individuals who had been awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge or the Combat Medical Badge for meritorious achievement in ground combat against the armed enemy between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945.

8.  Army Regulation 600-8-22, Military Awards, provides, in pertinent part, that the Army of Occupation Medal (Germany) was awarded for service for 30 consecutive days at a normal post of duty while assigned to the Army of Occupation of Germany (exclusive of Berlin) between 9 May 1945 and 5 May 1955.  Service between 9 May and 8 November 1945 would be counted only if the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal was awarded for service prior to 9 May 1945.

9.  The same regulation also authorized the American Campaign Medal to be awarded for service in the American Theater between 7 December 1941 and      2 March 1946; and, the World War II Victory Medal for service between 7 December 1941 and 31 December 1946.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Documentation provided by the applicant substantiates that he was awarded the Purple Heart in 1945 and that award should have been reflected on his WD AGO Form 53-55.  Likewise, his assertion that his Army serial number is incorrect is borne out by the serial numbers shown on the copy of orders awarding him the Purple Heart and the copy of his dog tag.  Therefore, it would be appropriate to reflect these change in his record.

2.  Inasmuch as he was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge during World War II, he is also entitled to the Bronze Star Medal under the revised standards for awarding that medal.

2.  Additionally, considering his overall length of active service and his period of service in the European Theater of Operation, he is also entitled to the Army of Occupation Medal (Germany), the American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

3.  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:

	a.  showing that the Army serial number of the individual concerned ends in the digit 3 (instead of 7);

	b.  showing that he was awarded the Purple Heart per General Order Number 6, Headquarters 122d General Hospital, dated 31 January 1945, the Bronze Star Medal (based on the award of the Combat Infantryman Badge), the Army of Occupation Medal (Germany), the American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal; and

	c.  correcting his WD AGO Form 53-55 to reflect the aforementioned changes and issuing to him all of the awards to which he is entitled to include those previously shown on his WD AGO Form 53-55.

BOARD VOTE:  

_hof ____  _mw  ___  _dw_____  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		__Hubert O. Fry, Jr.__________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999024417	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	19991221	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR . . . . .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(GRANT PLUS)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.  100.10		
2.   107.00		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.