PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:            26 April 2000                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999026968

	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. W. E. Schnupp		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Stanley Kelley		Chairperson	
	Ms. Karol A. Kennedy		Member	
	Mr. Curtis L. Greenway		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 for wounds received in action on 27 February 1945.

3.  The applicant states that he previously tried to have his records corrected and get the Purple Heart but was told that all of his records were destroyed in the fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC).

4.  In support of his request, he has provided X-ray results from a DVA examination showing metallic foreign bodies in his face that are suspected to be shrapnel remnants, a roster of the men of “H” Company, 334th Infantry which shows he was assigned to that organization during World War II, a copy of orders awarding him the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) in February 1945 and two eyewitness statements from former members of his unit stating that he was wounded in the face by shrapnel from enemy fire on or about 27 February 1945 in Germany.

5.  The applicant’s military records were lost or destroyed in the 1973 fire at the NPRC.  Information herein was derived from documents submitted by the applicant.

6.  Two members of a three-man machine gun crew in which the applicant was the gunner submitted the eyewitness statements attesting to his wounds.  Both statements contend that the applicant was wounded in the face and leg as a result of shrapnel from German artillery fire on 27 February 1945.  Apparently, the applicant was removed to an aid station and treated for his wounds but no known record of his medical treatment exists.

7.  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.

8.  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.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The eyewitness statements submitted by the applicant are accepted by the Board as prima-facie evidence that he was wounded in action as a result of hostile fire and is entitled to the Purple Heart for those wounds.
2.  Furthermore, in light of his having been awarded the CIB, he is also entitled to the Bronze Star Medal based on the World War II criteria for that award noted above.

3.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the absence of his records and particularly his WD AGO Form 53-55, Enlisted Record and Report of Separation, no document correcting his record to show these awards will be published.  Only this document will be available as authority for the awards.

4.  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 individual concerned was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in action in Germany on 27 February 1945, and the Bronze Star Medal; and

	b.  issuing to him the aforementioned awards.

BOARD VOTE:  

__sk____  __kak ___  ___clg __  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		___________Stanley Kelley_______
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999026968	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20000504	
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.  107.00		
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.