PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:     

	BOARD DATE:           9 November 2000                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2000038793

	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. Jennifer L. Prater 		Chairperson	
	Ms. Barbara J Lutz		Member	
	Mr. Orville W. Troesch, 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, on behalf of his deceased father, the former service member (FSM), any and all of the FSM’s awards including the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) and the Silver Star.  He also requests, on behalf of the FSM’s family, that they be issued any other medals that the FSM is eligible for as well as extracts of any records that are releasable.

3.  The applicant states that the FSM’s records show that he was recommended for the Silver Star in approximately February or March 1945 but never received it. The applicant contends also that the FSM served in actions that merited award of the CIB but he never received the award because of eligibility rules that he believes were retroactively changed and would now make him eligible for the award.  He asks that the Silver Star and the CIB be issued to his family.  

4.  In support of this request, he has provided copies of the FSM’s WD AGO Form 53-98, Military Record and Report of Separation covering his World War II service; DD Forms 214, Report of Transfer or Discharge; a handwritten letter by the FSM regarding the matters of the Silver Star and the CIB being awarded to him and a copy of a commendation with narrative which was awarded to the FSM’s unit during World War II.

5.  The FSM’s military records show that he entered active duty on 1 October 1942 as an infantry second lieutenant and served in the European Theater of Operations from 25 September 1943 to 17 August 1945 as an operations officer, executive officer and commander of an Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Detachment in Italy.  He was honorably separated at demobilization on 4 March 1946 in the grade of major.  He returned to active duty on 12 August 1951, was promoted to lieutenant colonel and served until his retirement on 30 September 1966 with over 29 years of service.  He passed away on 8 February 1994.

6.  The FSM’s awards include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal (BSM), the Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Medal with Second Oak Leaf Cluster, the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern (EAME) Campaign Medal with four Bronze Service Stars and Arrowhead device, the World War II Victory Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal (Germany), the National Defense Service Medal with First Oak Leaf Cluster, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal, the Parachutist Badge, the Sharpshooter Badge with Rifle, Carbine and Pistol Bars, the Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII, the Distinguished Service Order (British award) and the Order of the Crown of Italy (Italian award).

7.  The record contains a copy of a recommendation for award of the Silver Star to the FSM dated 21 May 1945.  The recommendation states that the FSM was 

being cited for gallantry in action on 16 April 1945 and reads in part, that Partisans under his command were ordered to concentrate in the Ospatile Valley for an attack on the Monte Lancio Range (Italy).  Under heavy enemy fire, he personally contacted officers under his command, to encourage and advise them.  At one time, on Monte Mezzano Di Sutto, the Partisans were about to break under an enemy counter-attack.  Braving enemy fire, he went to their aid and rallied them by his courageous example to beat off the enemy and take the objective.  That same night, he led a combat patrol that reconnoitered and engaged the strong enemy position on Monte Lancio, which was taken by frontal assault the next morning.  Later, the applicant led a column of vehicles loaded with supplies to a rendezvous with the partisan advance units.  In order to arrive there he had to drive through territory in which the enemy was still retreating.  Despite the minefields through which he had to pass, and the firefights which occurred all along the route, the applicant kept his appointment at the destination with the essential supplies he was bringing.

8.  The recommendation for the Silver Star was submitted by the applicant’s OSS detachment commander, a major, on 21 May 1945, concurred in with recommendation for approval by his company commander, a lieutenant colonel, and forwarded by the regimental commander, a colonel, to the commanding general of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations with a recommendation of approval.  The file does not indicate the final disposition of the recommendation.

9.  The applicant served in MOS 1542, Infantry Unit Commander, throughout his service during World War II from September 1943 until his return to the States in August 1945.  He culminated that service as commander of the 2677th Regimental OSS Detachment attached to the US IV Corps in Italy.  The record shows that this detachment was involved in 3 combat jumps and was in the initial waves at Salarno and Anzio Beaches, assault landing credits for which members of the unit were awarded the Arrowhead device to the EAME Medal.

10.  Army Regulation 600-45, Decorations, the regulation then in effect, provides that the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Soldier’s Medal and the Air Medal may be awarded by the commanding general of United States Army Forces in a theater of operations.

11.  The same regulation provided that the Silver Star is awarded to persons, who while serving in any capacity with the Army, distinguish themselves by gallantry in action not warranting the award of a Medal of Honor or Distinguished Service Cross.

12.  Army Regulation 600-8-22, Military Awards, provides, in pertinent part, that the primary requirement for award of a decoration is that a formal recommendation be prepared and introduced into official military channels within 2 years of the act, achievement, or service to be recognized.  The sole exception 
to the 2-year time limit occurs when there is conclusive evidence that a formal recommendation was submitted but was lost, or through inadvertence was never acted on by proper authority.

13.  The same regulation, provides, in pertinent part, that the CIB is awarded to Army infantry officers in the grade of colonel or below, or to Army enlisted soldiers or warrant officers with an infantry military occupational specialty who, subsequent to 6 December 1941, satisfactorily performed duty while assigned or attached as a member of an infantry or ranger unit of brigade, regimental or smaller size during any period such unit was engaged in active ground combat.  Battle participation credit alone is not sufficient.  The unit must have been in active ground combat with the enemy during the period

14.  Subsequent to the cessation of hostilities during World War II, the regulation governing the award of the BSM was changed, in part, to provide for the award of this decoration to those individuals who had been awarded the CIB or the Combat Medical Badge for meritorious achievement in ground combat against the armed enemy between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The evidence of record shows that a recommendation for the Silver Star was submitted on behalf of the FSM’s on 21 May 1945.  It was processed through the company and regimental commanders, who recommended approval, and was forwarded to the theater commander who had approval authority for the award at that time on 31 May 1945.  The final decision on the recommendation is not contained in the records.  It must be presumed that the recommendation was either downgraded, disapproved or was lost and not acted upon.  Downgrading does not seem to have been a possibility since the recommendation is for an event that occurred on 16 April 1945 and none of the FSM’s other awards were for an action occurring on that date.  Disapproval is a possibility but the record contains no evidence of such a decision.  The only other possibility is that proper authority never acted upon the recommendation since it is not among the awards listed for the FSM.

2.  In the absence of firm evidence on the final disposition of the Silver Star recommendation, the Board is inclined to accept that the recommendation was lost and never acted upon by the proper authority.  It appears reasonable to assume that since the recommendation received favorably recommendations through three levels of command there is a good likelihood that the final approving authority, the theater commander, would also have acted favorably on the recommendation.  Therefore, this Board, acting as the final approving authority believes that the FSM is entitled to the Silver Star for his action in Italy on 16 April 1945.

3.  The FSM entered the service as an infantry officer and served as an Infantry Unit Commander, MOS 1542, with an OSS detachment in the European Theater of Operations.  His unit performed many infantry-like duties as evidenced by the Arrowhead device on his EAME Medal denoting involvement in a combat parachute jump and/or amphibious assault landing.  Further, as pointed out in the recommendation for the Silver Star, he was involved in actual conflict with an armed enemy that involved exposure to personal hazards in the same manner as any infantry unit.  Although he may not have met the strict interpretation of the regulation for award of the CIB, which includes assignment or attachment to an infantry unit, it appears that he met the spirit of the regulation by participating in direct combat with the enemy and should be awarded the CIB in recognition of that combat.

4.  By awarding the FSM the CIB, he also becomes entitled to the BSM with First Oak Leaf Cluster under the revised criteria for awarding the BSM to recipients of the CIB for combat duty during WW II.  His first award of the BSM was for action on 29 April 1945 and was awarded per General Order 36, 30 May 1945.

5.  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:

	a.  showing that the individual concerned was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action in Italy on 16 April 1945;

	b.  showing that the FSM was awarded the CIB and the BSM with First Oak Leaf Cluster; and

	c.  issuing to the applicant a correction to the FSM’s discharge documents reflecting the indicated awards.

BOARD VOTE:  

___jlp  __  ___bjl___  ____owt _  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		__________Jennifer L. Prater______
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000038793	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20001109	
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.