PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF: 

	BOARD DATE:            8 March 2001      
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2000050708

	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. Deborah L. Brantley		Senior Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Roger Able		Chairperson	
	Ms. Barbara J. Lutz		Member	
	Mr. William d. Powers		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, award of the Purple Heart, Bronze Star Medal and the Navy Presidential Unit Citation.  Although he states that he received no “recognition of wounds [and] above mentioned medals” he submits no evidence in support of his request.

3.  Records available to the Board indicate the applicant initially entered active duty in October 1949 and served approximately 8 months in Korea where he was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Korean Service Medal.  On 
22 March 1952 the applicant was honorably discharged.  His DD Form 214 (Report of Separation from the Armed Forces of the United States), which the applicant authenticated, does not reflect entitlement to the Purple Heart or the Bronze Star Medal.  It does, however, reflect entitlement to the “Presidential Unit Citation.”  Item 29 (wounds received as a result of action with enemy forces) reflects “NONE.”

4.  Following the applicant’s separation he continued to serve in a variety of Reserve components, including the Army and Navy Reserve and the Army National Guard.  In April 1989 he was transferred to the Retired Reserve and in 1992 began drawing retired pay after reaching age 60.

5.  The applicant’s record contains an August 1998 statement and a November 1998 letter authored by an individual who states he was the applicant’s platoon sergeant in October 1950.  In the August 1998 statement the author indicates the applicant “was wounded in the head, face, and arm” by enemy mortar fire while escorting prisoners to the rear area.  He notes that “due to the combat situation” the applicant and another soldier “attended each others wounds….”  He states the applicant was not evacuated and that “for the next several days” the squad leader, platoon medical aid man, and another soldier “tired to remove shrapnel from [the applicant’s] head, face, and arm.  No further treatment was performed and he continued on with the platoon on its mission.”  

6.  In the November 1998 letter the author states that “having been awarded the Combat Infantry [sic] Badge” the applicant “is eligible for the Bronze Star Medal, for meritorious achievement.”

7.  The applicant’s record also contains two newspaper clippings.  One, which is undated, recounts the applicant’s return to his hometown and states he “was slightly wounded last Fall when struck by shrapnel.”  The second clipping, dated 29 December 1956, discusses a book the applicant authored and notes that the 

applicant was one of two “members of the 11-man squad still alive” and that he “himself was hit by shrapnel on Oct. 21, 1950.”

8.  In 1980 and 1985 the applicant underwent physical examinations which were part of the records available to the Board.  The 1980 examination notes that the applicant was treated for a torn cartilage in his left knee in 1973 and the 1985 examination noted a “small scar left knee.”  Neither examination mentions treatment for any wounds sustained as a result of hostile action or scars attributable to shrapnel wounds.

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.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 also provides, in pertinent part, that the Bronze Star Medal is awarded for heroism and for meritorious achievement or service in military operations against an armed enemy.  The Bronze Star Medal is authorized 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 whose such achievement or service, during that period, was confirmed by documents executed prior to 1 July 1947.  An award of the Combat Infantryman Badge or the Combat Medical Badge is considered to be a citation in orders.  This means, in effect, that the Bronze Star Medal is to be awarded to individuals who were authorized either badge for service during World War II.

11.  A review of Department of the Army Pamphlet 672-1 (Unit Citation and Campaign Participation Credit Register) notes the applicant’s unit (187th Combat Regiment Team) was awarded a Navy Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation during his tenure with the organization.  The Navy Presidential Unit Citation was announced in orders published in 1952 while the Korean Presidential Unit Citation was announced in order published in 1955.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  While the applicant’s records contain a statement from his former platoon sergeant and extracts from newspaper articles, neither document is supported by 

any medical evidence.  The former platoon sergeant does not indicate that he was an eyewitness to the injury and there is no indication of the source of the information contained in the newspaper articles.  Additionally, the Board is reluctant to correct military records based solely on the recollection of events rendered years after the fact when such events are not substantiated by information contained in any official documents or source.  The Board notes, particularly, that the applicant remained in an active military status for several years following his release from active duty in 1952 and underwent periodic physical examinations without any mention of wounds sustained as a result of hostile action.

2.  The applicant’s former platoon sergeant maintains that the applicant is entitled to award of the Bronze Star Medal based on his Combat Infantryman Badge.  While this was true for holders of the Combat Infantryman Badge from World War II, that entitlement did not carry over to the Korean War.  By the time of the Korean War the Bronze Star Medal was a well-established award requiring a recommendation, approval through the chain of command and announcement in orders.

3.  The Board notes that the applicant’s separation report indicates entitlement to the Presidential Unit Citation.  In all likelihood this refers to the “Navy” Presidential Unit Citation in view of the fact that the Presidential Unit Citation (Army) did not come into existence until years later when the Distinguished Unit Citation was renamed.  There is no indication the applicant’s unit received any other U.S. unit citation during the Korean War.  As such it would be appropriate, and in the interest of clarity and justice, to correct the applicant’s record to reflect that the Presidential Unit Citation was the “Navy” Presidential Unit Citation.

4.  The evidence also indicates the applicant is entitled to the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation based on his service in Korea and his records should be corrected accordingly.

5.  In view of the foregoing, the applicant’s records should be corrected as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected:

a.  by showing that the individual concerned is entitled to the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation; and

b.  by showing that the Presidential Unit Citation currently reflected on his 1953 separation document was in fact a Navy Presidential Unit Citation.

2.  That so much of the application as is in excess of the foregoing be denied.

BOARD VOTE:  

__ra____  ___bjl__  ___wdp__  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000050708	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20010308	
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.