PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF: 

	BOARD DATE:           5 December 2000                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2000037889

	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. Richard H. Allen		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. Ann M. Campbell		Chairperson	
	Mr. Allen L. Raub		Member	
	Mr. Jose A. Martinez		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 in essence, correction of a Certification of Military Service (National Archives (NA) Form 13038) to show that his date of entry on active duty was 1 September 1955 not 1 September 1953.

3.  The applicant states, in essence, that the form is incorrect.   

4.  The applicant’s military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  Information herein was obtained from partially reconstructed personnel records.

5.  The records available to the Board show that the applicant served in an Army of the United States (AUS) status in the mid-1950's.  

6.  On 23 September 1999, the applicant, in coordination with his county's Veterans Service Commission, submitted a Standard Form 180 (Request Pertaining to Military Records) to the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), a part of the National Archives, requesting an undeleted Report of Separation from the Army.  He specified on this form in paragraph 5 (Service Past and Present) that his active duty dates of service were from 
"9-1-55 to-9-1-57."  

7.  Since Army separation documents, to include a DD Form 214-Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge, were not available, the NPRC issued an NA Form 13038 on 2 November 1999 stating that the applicant had served in the AUS from "September 1, 1953 to June 7, 1957."  He was honorably released from active duty and his rank was specialist third class. 

8.  The only other document in the applicant's military records is a copy of an extract of Special Orders 157, issued by the United States Army Personnel Center Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn 9, New York, dated 6 June 1957.  Paragraph 
68 of the order shows that the applicant's Army Service Number began with the designator "US" which denoted that he was a member of the AUS, and that he held an armor crewman's military occupational specialty.  Paragraph 
68 of the order further directed the separation of 20 soldiers from active duty and transfer to the United States Army Reserve Control Group (Reinforced Military Service) effective 7 June 1957.  It gave the soldiers' home address, place of entry on active duty and the total military service obligation.  In the applicant's case, he had an 8-year service obligation, and his home was in Ashtabula, Ohio.

9.  The order also specified that the Separation Program Number (SPN) was SPN 411 PETS.  Army Regulation 635-5-1, then in effect, provided a listing of SPNs.  Separation Program Number 411 indicates that the soldier is an early returnee from an oversea assignment.  Essentially, soldiers returning from an oversea assignment with 3 or less month's service remaining, would not be reassigned to a new duty station unless they were intending to reenlist.  The abbreviation PETS indicates that the soldier was being separated prior to the expiration of his or her term of service (ETS).  

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Notwithstanding the absence of Army separation documents, the Board is satisfied that the applicant was a member of the AUS, and was serving on a 
2-year active duty service commitment in the 1955-1957 time frame.  

2.  If his separation date from active duty on 7 June 1957 as a member of the AUS is accepted as fact, and that it was prior to his normal ETS, the Board is satisfied that insofar as the Department of the Army is concerned, the applicant's active duty period of service was from 1 September 1955 through 7 June 1957.  This is further supported by his own claim of service from 1 September 1955.  

3.  The only incorrect date on the NA Form 13038 appears to the beginning date of his service, which is most likely a typographical error.   

4.  Accordingly, the NPRC will be requested to correct the NA Form 13038 to show the corrected beginning date of his service from 1 September 1953 to 
1 September 1955. 

5.  In view of the foregoing, the applicant’s military records should be corrected as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

That insofar as the Department of the Army is concerned, the military records of the individual concerned should show that he served on active duty in the 
AUS from 1 September 1955 to 7 June 1957.

BOARD VOTE:  

__amc __  __alr____  __jam___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		__Ann M. Campbell__
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000037889	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20001205	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	HD	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	19570607	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR635-205	
DISCHARGE REASON	A03.00	
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY	DASA	
ISSUES         1.	100.00	
2.	110.00	
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.