MEMORANDUM OF CONSIDERATION

	IN THE CASE OF:         

	BOARD DATE:           30 March 2000                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999025960

	I certify that hereinafter is recorded the record of consideration of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in the case of the above-named individual.

	Mr. Kenneth H. Aucock 		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. Barbara J. Ellis 		Chairperson	
	Mr. Hubert O. Fry, Jr.		Member	
	Mr. Ernest W. Lutz, Jr.		Member	

	The Board, established pursuant to authority contained in 10 U.S.C. 1552, convened at the call of the Chairperson on the above date.  In accordance with Army Regulation 15-185, the application and the available military records pertinent to the corrective action requested were reviewed to determine whether to authorize a formal hearing, recommend that the records be corrected without a formal hearing, or to deny the application without a formal hearing if it is determined that insufficient relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the existence of probable material error or injustice.

	The applicant requests correction of military records as stated in the application to the Board and as restated herein.

	The Board considered the following evidence:

	Exhibit A - Application for correction of military 
                records
	Exhibit B - Military Personnel Records (including
	            advisory opinion, if any)

APPLICANT REQUESTS:  In effect, that his record be corrected to show that he was discharged in 1946 in the rank of Staff Sergeant; and that he be awarded the Army Commendation Medal.  

APPLICANT STATES:  That he served in the European Theater of Operations with the 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team as a machine gunner and received his first Purple Heart in France in February 1945, and his second Purple Heart in Bologna, Italy in June 1945.  He received the Bronze Star Medal for his actions during the North Apennines/Po Valley Campaigns in Italy.  He was a Sergeant when he was ordered to duty with military intelligence.  He was assigned to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and was recommended for the award of the Army Commendation Medal, but because of government secrecy did not receive it.  After the President signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996, he could apply for the Army Commendation Medal or the Silver Star in lieu of that medal, but [he missed the deadline for applying] because of the one year window.  He was supposed to have received the Silver Star Medal in 
Europe, but did not, because Japanese-Americans received the next lower medal.  He was a Sergeant with the 10th Mountain Division at the Presidio in California, and was reassigned to Fort Lewis, Washington.  The race-prejudiced cadre reduced him, lost his records, and gave him a pass to look for his records. Since he was supposed to be promoted one grade at the time of his discharge, he should have been discharged as a staff sergeant.

EVIDENCE OF RECORD:  The applicant's military records show:

The applicant was inducted into the Army on 20 May 1944, entered on active duty on 9 June 1944, and arrived in the European Theater of Operations on         9 November 1944.  He participated in three campaigns during the war, and returned to the United States on 29 August 1945.  The applicant’s WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation – Honorable Discharge) shows that he was discharged on 24 April 1946 at Fort Lewis, Washington in the rank of Private.  That form shows that his arm (branch) was infantry, his organization, Company M, 442nd Infantry, and that his military occupational specialty was that of a light truck driver.  That form has the word “NONE” in item 34, “Wounds Received in Action”.  He was awarded the American Service Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.  The form does not show award of the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star Medal, or the Army Commendation Medal. 

In a 10 December 1990 request, he stated that he wanted various medals, badges, regimental pins, shoulder patches, and sergeant stripes.  His wife wanted to know where all his medals were.  He stated that the information was not on his separation document, and that he had amnesia from an explosion in the last campaign and did not remember things at the time of this separation. 

In an undated letter to the military records department at St. Louis, the applicant again requested various awards, stating that he had a blank space in 1945 when he had vanished from an explosion, and his men found him with amnesia in a hospital in northern Italy.  He received the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart, which did not get into his records.  His qualification badges, expert with the rifle, carbine, and light machine gun; qualified with the rocket launcher and 50 caliber machine gun; service school records and flight pay records never kept up with him as he was on the move.  He was a sergeant and in the last push in Italy, fired a machine gun from the hip covering his men while charging up a hill, when everything blew up, and he did not remember things. 

In an undated letter to the VA he stated that his old boss, a colonel, had signed a citation saying that he was the most trusted man in the Army.  He stated that he had a battle field promotion to sergeant, that he was leading a charge up a hill when he was blown up and nothing left except for dog tags hanging from a tree branch.  He was supposed to have had amnesia and recovering in a hospital.  He returned to the states with a Bronze Star and Purple Heart, was assigned to Fort Ord, California, and then to Fort Lewis, and was out of the Army so fast that his records never caught up with him so he did not get his stripes sewed on.  He would like a copy of that citation.  He stated that he had a dozen or so aliases that he answered to.  Each girl in his history knew him by a different name.

On 20 February 1997 he requested from the military records center at St. Louis that he be awarded the Army Commendation Medal, stating that a colonel at Fort Snelling had recommended him for that medal and entered it in his soldier’s handbook.  He stated that he was blown up at Bologna, Italy, lost his dog tags, made headlines in the hometown newspapers, and received the Bronze Star and his second Purple Heart.  When they found out he could speak Japanese well, he was assigned to Fort Snelling, where the Russian officers refused to teach him more Japanese, so he became a training sergeant.  He went to Fort Ord, where they were determined to keep him safe, gave him rest and recuperation, officer status, and then assigned him to Fort Lewis where the Pacific cadre stripped him of his stripes and his uniform.  They lost his papers.

In a 29 June 1999 letter to the applicant, an official of this agency, in response to his letter to the President, informed the applicant that the majority of his records were destroyed in the 1973 fire at St. Louis, and the only document retrieved was his discharge document.  He was advised to make application to this Board if he wished to pursue the matter of his awards and his rank.

Army Regulation 600-8-2 prescribes Army policy, criteria, and administrative instructions concerning individual military awards.  Paragraph 1-14 states that each recommendation for an award of a military decoration must be entered administratively into military channels within 2 years of the act, achievement, or service to be honored.  No military decoration, except the Purple Heart will be awarded more than 3 years after the act or period of service to be honored.
That regulation also provides, in pertinent part, that the Army Commendation Medal is awarded for heroism and for meritorious achievement or service.  As with all personal decorations, formal recommendations, approval through the chain of command, and announcement in orders are required.  
 
DISCUSSION:  Considering all the evidence, allegations, and information presented by the applicant, together with the evidence of record, applicable law and regulations, it is concluded:

1.  There is no evidence, nor has the applicant submitted any, to show that he was awarded the Army Commendation Medal or that he had been recommended for that award.  Nor is there any evidence, information, or documentation to indicate that he was a Sergeant at the time of his discharge, or that he had once held that rank.  The only evidence available to this Board, other than the statements by the applicant, is the applicant’s WD AGO Form 53-55.  The applicant is not entitled to the award of the Army Commendation Medal, nor his record corrected to show his rank as Sergeant.

2.  The applicant has submitted neither probative evidence nor a convincing argument in support of his request.   

3.  In order to justify correction of a military record the applicant must show to the satisfaction of the Board, or it must otherwise satisfactorily appear, that the record is in error or unjust.  The applicant has failed to submit evidence that would satisfy the aforementioned requirement.
 
4.  In view of the foregoing, there is no basis for granting the applicant's request.

DETERMINATION:  The applicant has failed to submit sufficient relevant evidence to demonstrate the existence of probable error or injustice.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___bje___  ___hof__  __ewl____  DENY APPLICATION

						Karl F. Schneider
						Director, Army Review Boards Agency

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999025960	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20000330	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR .  .  .  .  .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	DENY	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.  46	107.00	
2.	110.00	
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.