PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:   

	BOARD DATE:           16 February 2000 
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999029263

	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. Jessie B. Strickland		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Arthur A. Omartian		Chairperson	
	Mr. Curtis L. Greenway		Member	
	Ms. Meta Waller		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 that he be awarded the National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) and the Army of Occupation Medal (Germany) and that his records be corrected accordingly.

3.  The applicant states that he served with the 97th Signal Battalion in Germany from October 1954 to April 1957 and that he is entitled to awards of the Army of Occupation Medal (AOM) for Germany and the NDSM; however, they were never included on his report of separation (DD Form 214).  In support of his application he submits a copy of his DD Form 214.

4.  The applicant’s military records were destroyed in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center at St. Louis, Missouri which destroyed millions of service records.  However, his DD Form 214 shows that he enlisted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 30 April 1954 and completed his training as a communications center specialist.

5.  He was transferred to Germany in October 1954, was assigned to the message center company of the 97th Signal battalion and was promoted to the pay grade of SP3 in December 1956.  He continued to serve in Germany until he was returned to Fort Dix, New Jersey and was honorably released from active duty on 13 April 1957.  He had served 2 years, 11 months, and 14 days of total active service and had served 2 years and 6 months of service in Germany.

6.  At the time of his separation, his DD Form 214 reflected that he was only authorized an award of the Good Conduct Medal (GCM).

7.  Army Regulation 672-5-1, in effect at the time, served as the authority and provided the criteria for decorations and awards.  It states, in pertinent part, that the AOM (Germany) is awarded for service for 30 consecutive days at a normal post of duty in Germany (exclusive of Berlin) between 9 May 1945 and 5 May 1955.  The NDSM is authorized for honorable active service for any period between 27 June 1950 and 27 July 1954.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant clearly served on active duty during the period necessary to qualify for award of the NDSM and was stationed in Germany during the period in which the AOM (Germany) was awarded for service in that country.

2.  However, it appears that an administrative error resulted in those awards being omitted from his records at the time of separation.  Therefore, it would be in the interest of justice to correct the error at this time by awarding the medals at this time (if available) and correcting his records accordingly.

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 individual concerned was awarded the NDSM and the AOM (Germany) and be issued the appropriate medal sets if the are available.

BOARD VOTE:  

__aoa___  __clg___  ___mw__  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999029263	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	2000/02/16	
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         1.107.0067	113/AOM (Germany)	
2.107.0069	115/ndsm	
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.