PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:        

	BOARD DATE:             8 August 2000                 
	DOCKET NUMBER:    AR2000045071

	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:

	Mr. Stanley Kelley		Chairperson	
	Mr. James E. Anderholm		Member	
	Mr. Ronald E. Blakely		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 he be awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in combat action on 16 March 1945.

3.  The applicant states that an exploding German shell wounded him.  In support of his request, he has provided a copy of the Western Union Telegram sent to his mother by the Adjutant General of the Army advising that he had been slightly injured in Germany on 16 March 1945 and a copy of the hospital report sent to his mother on 8 and 23 April 1945 indicating that he was convalescing from concussion injuries of the chest.

4.  The applicant’s military records show that he was inducted on 24 August 1944 and served in the European Theater of Operations from February 1945 to September 1945.  He was honorably discharged in the grade of private on        15 October 1945 for the purpose of immediately enlisting in the Air Force.

5.  His service record shows that he is authorized the following awards: the Good Conduct Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with One Bronze Service Star, the Combat Medical Badge and the World War II Victory Medal.  The record also shows that he was wounded in action on 16 March 1945 in the vicinity of Hargarten, Germany.  It does not show that he was awarded the Purple Heart for that injury or that any of the awards noted were issued to him.

6.  A hospital admission form from the 9th Clearing Station, Emergency Medical Treatment, shows that he was admitted on 16 March 1945 as wounded in action with cerebral and chest concussions injuries resulting from a shell blast.

7.  Army Regulation 600-8-22, Military Awards, provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained as a result of hostile action.  Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify that the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment by a medical officer, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.

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

9.  The awards regulation also provides that the Army of Occupation Medal (Germany) was awarded for service for 30 consecutive days at a normal post of duty while assigned to the Army of Occupation of Germany (exclusive of Berlin) between 9 May 1945 and 5 May 1955.  Service between 9 May and 8 November 1945 would be counted only if the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal was awarded for service prior to 9 May 1945.

10.  The American Campaign Medal is awarded for service in the American Theater between 7 December 1941 and 2 March 1946.

11.  The Honorable Service Lapel Button World War II is issued for honorable federal military service between 8 September 1939 and 31 December 1946.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The evidence of record shows that the applicant suffered concussion injuries as a result of enemy action in Germany on 16 March 1945 and is entitled to the Purple Heart for those injuries.

2.  Furthermore, since he was awarded the Combat Medical Badge, he is also entitled to be awarded the Bronze Star Medal based on the revised criteria for that award noted above.

3.  Additionally, considering his period of active duty service and the period of his overseas service in Germany, he is entitled to the American Campaign Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal (Germany) and the World War II Honorable Service Lapel Button.

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 by:

	a.  showing that the individual concerned was awarded the Purple Heart for injuries sustained in action on 16 March 1945;

	b.  showing that he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal (based on the Combat Medical Badge), the American Campaign Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal (Germany) and the World War II Honorable Service Lapel Button; and

c.  issuing to him all the awards to which he is currently entitled, which includes the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with One Bronze Service Star, the World War II Victory Medal, the Army of 

Occupation Medal (Germany), the Combat Medical Badge and the World War II Honorable Service Lapel Button.

BOARD VOTE:  

___sk___  ___jea___  ___reb__  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		__________Stanley Kelley_______
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000045071	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20000808	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR . . . . .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(GRANT PLUS)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.  107.00		
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.