PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:     

	BOARD DATE:           6 March 2001
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2000046970

	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. W. Osborn Jr.		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Stanley Kelley		Chairperson	
	Mr. Ernest W. Lutz, Jr.		Member	
	Mr. Harry O. Oberg		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.  Applicant requests reconsideration of his previous application to correct his military records by awarding him the Purple Heart.  He states that he was shot by a German soldier and hospitalized.  He was away from his unit for 53 days.  He again submits essentially identical statements from three comrades to substantiate his request. 

3.  The Memorandum of Consideration of the Board’s 7 June 2000 review of the case (AR 2000037081) his request is incorporated herein by reference as if wholly set forth.

4.  A health record research project, commonly referred to as the "SGO Files", involved transposing the hospital admission card data from the periods of World War II and the Korean conflict onto magnetic tape.  In 1988 the National Research Council made these tape files available to the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC).  The availability of the information to the NPRC received considerable publicity by the various veterans’ service organizations.  It was widely believed that these tapes would become a valuable substitute for the records lost in the NPRC fire of 1973.  The best available estimates are that this project captured and computerized approximately 95 percent of the hospitalized battle casualties of World War II and the Korean War.  The completeness ratio for non-battle casualties seems to be considerably less, although no available estimate. 

5.  A search of the SGO Files reveals that, on 16 March 1945, the applicant was hospitalized as a battle casualty with a bullet wound that penetrated his buttocks and hip but did not exit.  His initial hospitalization lasted 35 days.

6.  This constitutes new evidence that requires Board consideration. 

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The SGO files constitute an official record that show the applicant was treated for a wound that was incurred as the result of enemy action and is entitled to an award of the Purple Heart.  

2.  In view of the foregoing findings and conclusions, correcting the applicant’s records as recommended below would correct an error and rectify an injustice.

RECOMMENDATION:

That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing that the individual concerned was awarded the Purple Heart for a wound sustained as the result of enemy action in Europe on 16 March 1945.       

BOARD VOTE:

__SK___  __EWL __  __HBO__  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		      _Stanley Kelley_____
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000046970	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20010306	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	107.00	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.