PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF: 

	BOARD DATE:  19 September 2000
	DOCKET NUMBER:  AR2000036516

	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. Paul A. Petty		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Hubert O. Fry		Chairperson	
	Ms. Regan K. Smith		Member	
	Mr. John P. Infante		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 DD Form 214 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation, Honorable Discharge) show his combat unit, Company B, 
160th Engineer Combat Battalion, instead of the unit he was assigned to for discharge processing.

3.  The applicant states that he served with and fought in combat with 
Company B, 160th Engineer Combat Battalion, all through WWII but the company was disbanded overseas prior to returning to the United States.  He was attached to the 1348th Engineer Construction Group to go to Japan but the war ended and he was sent to Fort Knox to be discharged.  Upon arrival at Fort Knox, he was sent home on emergency furlough due to the sudden illness and death of his mother.  Upon his return to Fort Knox, he was given his discharge papers that showed him discharged from the 1348th.  He was told that if he had been at Fort Knox to contest showing the 1348th instead of the 160th, they could have changed it before his DD Form 214 was printed.  He would now like it changed to show the 160th since that is who he served with and fought with and where he was awarded military medals during WWII.  Upon his death, he also wants his marker to show that he was with the 160th.  He did not do anything under the 1348th and didn’t know anyone in that unit.  The applicant submits a copy of his DD Form 214, discharge certificate, and a certificate from the Army Transportation Corps “New York Port of Embarkation” stating that the applicant, a member of Company B, 160th Engineer Combat Battalion, returned to the United States on the ship S. S. James Ford Rhodes which sailed from La Havre, France, on 10 December 1945.  The document is signed by the transportation commander.

4.  The applicant’s military records are not available.  The Board requested his military records from the repository in St. Louis, Missouri, but without success.  A fire destroyed approximately 18 million service members’ records at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973.  It is believed that the applicant’s records were lost in that fire.  His DD Form 214 shows that he was inducted into the Army on 11 May 1943; that his branch of service was CE (Combat Engineer), that he served in campaigns in Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe; and that he was discharged at Fort Knox on 15 January 1946.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The transportation document provided by the applicant is accepted as sufficient evidence that the he was assigned to Company B, 160th Engineer Combat Battalion, at the end of his tour in Europe during WWII and within approximately one month of his discharge.  The applicant’s discharge documents should be changed to show that he was discharged from this unit.

2.  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 for the individual concerned by showing that he was discharged on 15 January 1946, from Company B, 160th Engineer Combat Battalion.

BOARD VOTE:  

__hf___  __rs____  ___ji___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		__Hubert O. Fry___
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000036516	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20000919	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.100	Administrative Matters	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.