PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:       

	BOARD DATE:            21 September 2000
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2000039667

	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	
	Ms. Deyon D. Battle		Analyst	

The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. JoAnn H. Langston		Chairperson	
	Mr. Curtis L. Greenway		Member	
	Mr. Eric N. Andersen		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 effect, that his Enlisted Record and Report of Separation (WD AGO Form 53-55) be corrected to show that he was wounded in the left shin as a result of hostile action by the enemy.  He also requests that he be awarded the Purple Heart.

3.  The applicant states that he received shrapnel in his left shin during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. 

4.  The applicant's military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  Information herein was obtained from alternate sources.

5.  He was inducted in the Army on 6 November 1942 and he successfully completed his training as a truck driver.

6.  Information obtained from hospital admission card data files show that on 28 September 1944, the applicant was admitted to the hospital in the European area and treated by physicians as a result of being injured by artillery shell debris from a missile.  The record shows that he suffered a fracture to his Tarsal Bone and that the fracture was treated with splints for casts.

7.  Item number 34 (Wounds Received In Action) on the applicant’s WD AGO Form 53-55 fails to show that the applicant was wounded/injured in action while he was in the Army.

8.  Army Regulation 600-8-22(Military Awards) prescribes Army policy, criteria, and administrative instructions concerning individual military awards.  It provides, in pertinent part, for awarding the Purple Heart to a soldier for a wound/injury sustained as a direct result of hostile action.  Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify that the wound/injury was the result of hostile action, the wound/injury must have required treatment by a medical officer, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  An administrative error was made during the preparation of the applicant’s WD AGO Form 53-55 which resulted in the award of the Purple Heart being erroneously omitted.

2.  The fact that he was wounded in action was also erroneously omitted from his WD AGO Form 53-55.

3.  The evidence clearly supports the applicant’s contention that he was a casualty of battle and that he was wounded/injured as a result of hostile action by the enemy.

4.  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:

a.  by showing that the applicant received a shrapnel wound to his Tarsal Bone as a result of being wounded in action.

	b.  by awarding him the Purple Heart for wounds/injuries sustained on 28 September 1944 as a result of hostile action by the enemy.

BOARD VOTE:  

__ena___  ___jhl___  __clg  ___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		____JoAnn Langston_____
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000039667	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	2000/09/21	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	HD	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT 	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.  1021	100.0000	
2.  46	107.0000	
3.  61	107.0015	
4.		
5.		
6.