PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:        

	BOARD DATE:             7 September 2000                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:    AR2000036442

	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. W. E. Schnupp		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. Celia L. Adolphi		Chairperson	
	Mr. Walter T. Morrison		Member	
	Mr. Thomas B. Redfern, III		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 item 27 of his separation document (DD Form 214) be corrected to read Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB).

3.  The applicant states that he was not in the Medical Corps and that he served as a forward observer.

4.  The applicant’s military records show that he was inducted on 17 October 1950 and served with the 179th Infantry Regiment, Heavy Mortar Company in Korea.  His military occupational specialty (MOS) is shown as 1812 (Heavy Weapons Infantry Leader).  He was honorably separated and transferred to the US Army Reserve on 8 August 1952 in the grade of sergeant.

5.  Awards shown on his DD Form 214 include the Army of Occupation Medal (Japan), the Korean Service Medal with One Bronze Service Star, the United Nations Service Medal and a “Combat Inf Med Badge”.  On 19 June 1999 the National Personnel Records Center made an determination that he was also entitled to the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Combat Medical Badge (apparently interpreting the ‘Combat Inf Med Badge” to mean the Combat Medical Badge (CMB)).

6.  The record contains no information to indicate that the applicant ever served as a medical noncommissioned officer in combat.

7.  Army Regulation 600-8-22, Military Awards, provides in pertinent part, that medical personnel, assigned or attached by appropriate orders to an infantry unit of brigade, regimental or smaller size, or to a medical unit of company or smaller size, organic to an infantry unit of brigade or smaller size, during any period the infantry unit is engaged in actual ground combat, are eligible for award of the CMB, provided they are personally present and under fire during such ground combat

8.  The same regulation provides, in pertinent part, that to be eligible for the CIB, an individual must be an infantryman with an infantry military occupational specialty and must perform primary duty as an infantryman, as a member of an infantry unit of brigade or smaller size, during any period in which that unit was engaged in ground combat. Battle participation credit alone is not sufficient.  Further, the regulation identifies three separate and distinct periods during which the award of the CIB was authorized.  Those periods include the Korean Conflict before 27 July 1954.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Considering that the applicant’s MOS was that of an infantryman (Heavy Weapons Infantry Leader) and he was assigned to an infantry unit (the 179th Infantry Regiment Heavy Mortar Company) in Korea in 1951, it would appear that the award listed on his DD Form 214 as “Combat Inf Med Badge” most probably means the CIB rather than the CMB.

2.  In the absence of any indications in his available records that he served as a medic in combat and based on his own statement denying such was the case, it appears that it would be appropriate to correct his record to show that he was awarded the CIB for service in Korea.

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 issuing a correction to the DD Form 214 of the individual concerned showing that he was awarded the CIB for action in Korea in 1951.

BOARD VOTE:  

__cla ___  ___wtm__  ___tbr __  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		_______Celia L. Adolphi_______
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000036442	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20000907	
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.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.