PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF: 

	BOARD DATE:                29 December 1999
	DOCKET NUMBER:        AR1999028742

	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. Hubert S. Shaw, Jr		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. George D. Paxson		Chairperson	
	Mr. Curtis L. Greenway		Member	
	Mr. Christopher J. Prosser		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, as the widow of a deceased former service member (FSM),  requests correction of her late husband’s records to show award of the Purple Heart.

3.  The applicant states that the FSM sustained a shrapnel wound to the chest when a tank hit a mine, but his records do not show this wound or award of the Purple Heart.

4.  The FSM’s military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  Records available to the Board were obtained from alternate sources and show that he was inducted on 13 may 1943.  He served in the European Theater of Operations from 14 April 1944 to 8 May 1945 and was honorably discharged on 29 August 1945.

5.  The FSM’s WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation), which is signed in his own hand, does not show the Purple Heart as an authorized award and shows the entry “None” in item 34 (Wounds Received in Action).

6.  The applicant provided a clinical record from May 1945 which shows that the FSM “had been injured also a year previously, 12 May 1944, in the right chest, at which time he had shrapnel injury of the right anterior chest”.  A second undated medical document states:  “Old operation on clavicle is present following grenade injury May 1944.”  The third clinical record provided by the applicant shows that the FSM was examined by a medical consultant on 4 April 1944 who wrote:  “12 May ’44- injury to sterno-clavicular joint playing football.  Had chronic dislocation of clavical at sternal end.  About Aug 1944 – had operation on rt [right] sterno-clavicular joint.  Did not have any further dislocations – but still had pain.  Reinjury 10 Feb 45 – when tank hatch fell on rt [right] shoulder.”  The applicant also provided a copy of a Veterans Administration award of disability compensation for “Condition of feet, Chest Wound, and Condition of Right Shoulder”.

7.  The FSM’s records contain a DA Form 1577 (Authorization for Issuance of Awards), prepared by the Army Reserve Personnel Center on 25 July 1990, which shows the FSM was entitled to the Good Conduct Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp.  These awards are not shown on the FSM’s discharge document.

8.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 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, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The FSM signed his own discharge authenticating the facts that he was not awarded the Purple Heart and was not wounded as a result of hostile action.  Notwithstanding the two medical records which refer to a “shrapnel injury of the right chest and a “grenade injury in May 1944”, evidence of record shows the applicant was actually injured during a football game.  Based on the preponderance of evidence, the FSM was not wounded as a result of hostile action and is not entitled to award of the Purple Heart.

2.  The Army Reserve Personnel Center determined that the FSM was entitled to the Good Conduct Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp.  Therefore, the FSM is entitled to correction of his military records to these awards.

3.  In view of the foregoing findings and conclusions, it would be appropriate to correct the applicant’s records, but only as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing the FSM was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp.

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

BOARD VOTE:  

GDP_____  CLG____  CJP____  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		George D. Paxson______
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999028742	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	19991229	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	HD	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	19450825	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR 615-361	
DISCHARGE REASON	Certificate of Disability for Discharge	
BOARD DECISION	GRANT 	
REVIEW AUTHORITY	MR SCHNEIDER	
ISSUES         1.	107.00	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.