PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:      

	BOARD DATE:            17 June 1999                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999027043

	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	
	Ms. Deborah L. Brantley		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. Jennifer L. Prater		Chairperson	
	Mr. Thomas A. Pagan		Member	
	Mr. Ernest W. Lutz, Jr.		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, via his congressional representative, reconsideration of his request for award of the Purple Heart.  He also requests, again, that the spelling of his first name be changed from “Laurence” to “Lawrence” on his separation document.”  Additionally, he now asks that item 28 (place of entry on active duty) on his separation document be changed to reflect “York, Pennsylvania” vice “York, Texas.”  In support of his request he submits documents from the VA which indicate the VA has granted him a noncompensatory service connected disability rating for residuals of a scar on his left leg stemming from a shell fragment wound.  He also submits unreadable copies of his “identification tags” apparently in support of his request to have his name changed on his separation document.

3.  Incorporated herein by reference are military records that were summarized in a memorandum prepared to reflect the Board’s original consideration of his case on 14 September 1994 and reconsideration of his request on 30 July 1997.

4.  When the Board originally considered the applicant’s request for award of the Purple Heart in 1994 it was denied based on the fact that; a) the Purple Heart was, at the time, not authorized for award to individuals wounded or injured while in a POW status, and b) because there was no evidence, other than the applicant’s own statements, that he was wounded as a result of hostile action.  When the Board reconsidered his request for award of the Purple Heart in 1997 it again denied the request based on the lack of evidence to support the applicant’s contention that he was wounded at the time of his capture by German soldiers in July 1944.

5.  However, a review of all available evidence, including the latest documents submitted by the applicant, indicates that his separation physical examination contains the entry “WIA LW calf left 1944 ETO” and that the VA has confirmed that the “wound of the left leg (calf) has been identified as a shell fragment wound….”  Most recently, in 1997, a physician at the Lebanon, Pennsylvania Veterans Hospital confirmed the presence of “shrapnel left foot.”

6.  The Board denied the applicant’s request to change the spelling of his first name on his separation document in 1994 because there were no official documents to confirm the correct spelling.  The applicant’s original service personnel file was likely destroyed during the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center and as such there are no records available to determine the spelling of the applicant’s first name at the time he entered the service.  His 1945 separation document, which the applicant authenticated, reflects a first name spelled “Laurence.”

7.  The applicant was born in York, Pennsylvania and resides in that city today.  Item 28 on his separation document reflects that he entered active duty from “York, Texas.”  Research by the Board’s staff indicates that while there is a “Yorktown, Texas” there is no such location known as “York, Texas.”

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The Board concludes, after further review of all available evidence, that it was likely that the applicant was wounded as a result of hostile action in July 1944.  The fact that the entry on his separation physical, which generally would have been reported by the applicant, is confirmed by various VA documents is sufficient evidence for the Board to give the benefit of the doubt to the applicant and as such, in the interest of justice, to award him the Purple Heart. 

2.  Additionally, the Board notes that it appears the entry in item 28 of his separation document is incorrect.  Not only is there no such place as “York, Texas” the fact that the applicant was born and still resides in “York, Pennsylvania” tends to support a conclusion that he would have entered the military from “York, Pennsylvania.”

3.  However, there continues to be no official basis to correct the spelling of the applicant’s first name on his separation document.  In the absence of his official records, or a birth certificate, the Board is unable to determine the name with which the applicant’s original service personnel records were constituted.  The Board has consistently maintained that the Army has an obligation for historical purposes to maintain records as they were constituted at the time of creation.

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:

a.  by awarding the individual concerned the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in July 1944 during World War II; and

b.  by correcting item 28 on his separation document to reflect “York, Pennsylvania” vice “York, Texas.”

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

BOARD VOTE:  

__jlp___  __tap___  ___ewl__  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999027043	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	19990617	
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.  110.00		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.