PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF 

	BOARD DATE:            27 May 1999      
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999025689

	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. Edward Williamson		Chairperson	
	Ms. Meta Waller		Member	
	Mr. Kenneth L. Wright		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 that he incurred frozen feet and injuries to his left side while a prisoner of war (POW) during World War II.  The applicant’s narrative (ATTACHED) concerning his injuries and his experiences as a POW are self explanatory.  He encloses a December 1997 letter from his brother who states that when he (the brother) returned from the service in 1946, he and his brother shared the same residence, and that his brother’s (the applicant) feet were either blue or purple in color, and that the applicant had a habit of always favoring his left side.  He also stated that the applicant told him that he had frozen feet while a POW, and he injured his side when a German officer pushed him to the ground.

4.  The applicant’s military records show that the applicant was admitted to the 197th General Hospital on 28 May 1945, was diagnosed as having severe frost bite to both feet, and diphtheria, and was scheduled for transfer to the zone of the interior on 31 May 1945.  A handwritten clinical record and treatment, undated, shows that the applicant had pain in his upper left chest, and a cough. He had pains and cough occasionally since attack of diphtheria in the latter part of December 1944 in a German hospital while a POW.  He had bilateral trench foot in November 1944.  Skin of feet was gangrenous and feet were markedly swollen and painful.  Skin sloughed on all toes and parts of both feet.  Both feet were numb until early March.  The diagnosis was severe bilateral trench foot incurred on 13 November 1944 and diphtheria incurred in December 1944, recovered. 

5.  A 1 May 1945 clinical notation indicates that the applicant had a history of diphtheria in a German hospital in February 1945 and bilateral frostbite.

6.  A 26 July 1945 medical record from an Army hospital at Camp Butner, North Carolina, shows that the applicant’s condition was diagnosed as trench foot, moderate bilateral, manifested by hypernidrosis and pain in feet on prolonged locomotion, when exposed to cold and wet weather on 13 November 1944 while in combat.  Incapacitated because of pain in feet on prolonged locomotion prevented the performance of military duties.  A 14 September 1945 report of board of medical officers determined that the applicant’s injuries were in line of duty, that he was unfit for duty, and recommended that he be discharged.  The applicant was discharged on 20 September 1945.  His WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation – Honorable Discharge) shows that he was a rifleman and that he had been awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge.  Years later he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the POW Medal. 

7.  During World War II and the Korean War the Purple Heart was not awarded to soldiers who had been injured while in captivity or while being taken captive.  These injuries were considered to be the result of war crimes and not the result of a legal action of war.  War Department policy, at that time, required that wounds must have been received in action against the enemy or, in other words, incurred in actual combat.  Executive Order 11016, dated 25 April 1962, provided more latitude with respect to award of the Purple Heart to prisoners of war, 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 prisoners of war 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 Defense to retroactively change the standards and, in effect, countermand the decisions of the post leadership.  However, as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 1996 Congress authorized award of the Purple Heart to any former prisoner of war who was wounded before 25 April 1962 while held as a prisoner or war, or while being taken captive, in the same manner as a former prisoner of war who was wounded on or after that date.

8.  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.  The evidence of record clearly shows that the applicant suffered severe injuries to his feet in combat during the latter part of 1944 while a POW, and those injuries may well have been caused by frostbite.  Diagnoses by medical authorities on two occasions substantiate his injuries as frost bite.

2.  Therefore, the applicant is entitled to award of the Purple Heart.

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 showing that the applicant was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds sustained as a result of hostile action on 13 November 1944.  

BOARD VOTE:  

___ew__  ___mw___  __klw___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999025689	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	19990527	
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.