PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:      

	BOARD DATE:           22 March 2001                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2000049064

	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. Edmund P. Mercanti		                      Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. Shirley L. Powell		Chairperson	
	Mr. Regan k. Smith		Member	
	Mr. John P. Infante		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 her deceased husband, the Former Service Member (FSM), be awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Service Arrowhead.

3.  The applicant states her husband was wounded in his hand and face.

4.  The FSM’s military records could not be located and are presumed to have been destroyed in the fire at the records repository at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1973.  The following information is derived from documents provided by the applicant, herself.

5.  The FSM was inducted on active duty on 17 September 1943, was awarded the military occupational specialty (MOS) of rifleman, and served in the Southern Philippines and Western Pacific Campaigns.  

6.  He was in combat in Leyte and in Okinawa.  His medical records show that in February 1944 he was treated for a minute foreign body of metallic density in his eye, and on 2 November 1944 he was treated for multiple small metallic fragments in his left hand.  He was subsequently “insignificantly” wounded when he was thrown around and bruised by an enemy artillery shell.  After that wound he exhibited symptoms which would now be associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which resulted in his honorable separation with a Certificate of Disability for Discharge on 20 July 1945.

7.  Also included in the documents provided by the applicant is a letter from the FSM’s former personnel officer dated 29 October 1945 asking the FSM’s gaining commander to have the FSM awarded the Bronze Service Arrowhead for his participation in the Leyte operation.

8.  A health record research project, commonly referred to as the Surgeon General Office 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).  Searches of these files show that the FSM was a battle casualty in October 1944 in that he had sustained “bullet, missile not stated” wounds to his fingers.

9.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart is awarded for wounds 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.  

10.  This regulation also provides for the award of a Bronze Arrowhead to soldiers who are a part of an assault operation.
11.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) is awarded to infantry officers and to enlisted and warrant officers who have an infantry military occupational specialty.  They must have served in active ground combat while assigned or attached to an infantry unit of brigade, regimental or smaller size.  

12.  In this regulation several awards and decorations are provided specifically for service during WWII which were enacted subsequent to the demobilization of WWII.  These WWII specific provisions include award of the Bronze Star Medal for each individual who was cited in orders or awarded a certificate for exemplary conduct in ground combat between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945 or where such achievement or service, during the period, was confirmed by documents executed prior to 1 July 1947.  An award of the CIB is considered to be a citation in orders.  This means, in effect, that the Bronze Star Medals were awarded to individuals who were authorized the CIB for service during WWII.

13.  Another WWII specific award is the WWII Victory Medal which is awarded for service between 7 December 1941 and 31 December 1946, both dates inclusive, and the Honorable Service Lapel Button.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  There is no doubt that the FSM was wounded in action in October 1944, and that he should have received a Purple Heart for that wound.

2.  While it is possible that the applicant could have been entitled to a second award of the Purple Heart for the wound to his eye, there is insufficient documentation to determine his eligibility with any certainty.

3.  Likewise, the letter from the FSM’s former personnel officer is accepted as evidence of his entitlement to the award of the Bronze Arrowhead.

4.  In addition, while not requested, the FSM was entitled to the CIB based on his MOS of Rifleman, and would have been entitled to the award of the Bronze Star Medal based on his award of the CIB.  Also, the FSM is entitled to the WWII Victory Medal and the Honorable Service Lapel Button based on the dates of his service.

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.  awarding to the individual concerned the Purple Heart for the wound he sustained in October 1944;

	b.  awarding him the Bronze Arrowhead;

	c.  awarding him the WWII Victory Medal with Lapel Button;

	d.  awarding him the CIB; and

	e.  awarding him the BSM based on his award of the CIB. 

BOARD VOTE:  

___slp __  ____rks _  ____jpi __  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		__________Shirley L. Powell_______
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000049064	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20010322	
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.