PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:       

	BOARD DATE:            20 June 2000                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2000035473

	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. Carl W. S. Chun		Director	
	Mr. Kenneth H. Aucock		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Van B. Cunningham		Chairperson	
	Mr. James E. Anderholm		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 that his WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation – Honorable Discharge) be corrected to show his organization as Service Company, 47th Infantry, attached to Cannon Company, 9th Infantry Division, vice Service Company, 410th Infantry; and that his date of induction be changed from 19 August 1941 to some date in September or October of 1940.

3.  The applicant's military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  Information herein was obtained from reconstructed personnel records and those official documents submitted by the applicant.

4.  The applicant’s WD AGO Form 53-55 and his Honorable Discharge Certificate shows the applicant’s organization as Service Company, 410th Infantry.  His date of induction is shown as 19 August 1941 on the first document, and                    19 August 1942 on the second.  The applicant served in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.  He arrived in that theater on 26 January 1943 and participated in seven campaigns - Tunisia, Sicily, Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe.  The inclusive dates of the Tunisia campaign are 17 November 1942 – 13 May 1943; the Northern France campaign, 25 July – 14 September 1944.  He was awarded the Good Conduct Medal by authority of a 47th Infantry letter dated 15 September 1943.  
There is no record of an attachment to the Cannon Company of the 9th Infantry Division.

5.  He left the theater of operations on 2 August 1945 for the United States and was separated at Fort Meade, Maryland on 14 August 1945.  Both of the aforementioned documents show that he had a total of 3 years, 11 months,      and 26 days of service.

6.  DA Pamphlet 672-1 contains a register of unit citations and of campaign participation credits for World War II.  That register shows that the 47th Infantry Regiment participated in all the aforementioned campaigns; however, the 410th participated only in the last three of those campaigns.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Absent information to the contrary, it would appear that the applicant’s organization at one time during the war was the 410th Infantry.  The presumption of regularity is assumed. 

2.  Nonetheless, it is with a certainty that he also served with the 47th Infantry during the war, probably beginning in early 1943 with the Tunisia campaign and at least through July of 1944 during the Northern France campaign.  It is probable that the majority of his service during the war was with the 47th Infantry. There is no evidence, nor has the applicant submitted any, to show an attachment to the Cannon Company of the 9th Infantry Division.      

3.  It is also probable that he was inducted into the Army in 1942, not 1941 as indicated on his WD AGO Form 53-55, and not September or October of 1940 as the applicant contends.  There is no evidence, nor has the applicant submitted any, to show he was inducted into the Army in 1940.  

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 by showing that the applicant’s organization during his World War II service, was Service Company, 47th Infantry Regiment. 

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

BOARD VOTE:  

___ewl__  ___jea___  ___vbc__  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000035473	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20000620	
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.  1021	100.00	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.