PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:      

	BOARD DATE:           5 April 2001                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2001051533

	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:

	Ms. June Hajjar		Chairperson	
	Mr. Harry B. Oberg		Member	
	Ms. Celia L. Adolphi		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 his Separation Document (WD AGO Form 53-55) be corrected to reflect that he was awarded the Purple Heart.

3.  The applicant states that he received the Purple Heart Medal when he was wounded but it is not written on his Separation Document.

4.  In support of his request, he submits a copy of his Separation Document, an Award of Disability Compensation or Pension letter dated 6 March 1946, from the Veterans Administration, awarding him a pension for residuals of gunshot wounds to the head incurred during his war service and a copy of a Western Union Telegram from The Adjutant General of the Army to his mother advising her that he had been wounded in action on 17 December 1944.

5.  The applicant’s military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  Information herein is derived from documents submitted by the applicant and from alternate sources.

6.  His Separation Document shows that he was inducted on 28 October 1942 and served in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) from August 1944 to December 1945.  He was honorably discharged at demobilization on 28 December 1945 in the grade of technician 5th grade.

7.  His awards include the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB), the Sharpshooter Badge with Rifle and Carbine Bars and the World War II Honorable Service Lapel Button.  The Purple Heart is not listed as an authorized award and block 34 (Wounds Received in Action) of his Separation Document contains the entry “None”.

8.  Information obtained from hospital admission cards created by The Office of the Surgeon General for the year 1944, shows that the applicant was admitted to a medical treatment facility in Belgium on 17 December 1944 as a battle casualty with a perforating wound to the head, parietal region resulting from a machine gun bullet.

9.  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.

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

11.  The awards regulation 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.  

12.  The awards regulation also authorizes award of the American Campaign Medal for service in the American Theater between 7 December 1941 and 2 March 1946.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The evidence of record clearly establishes that the applicant was wounded as a result of hostile action and is entitled to the Purple Heart and to have it shown on his Separation Document.

2.  Furthermore, he is entitled to the BSM based on his having been awarded the CIB, and based on the period of his assignment in the ETO, he is entitled to the following service awards: the American Campaign Medal and the Army of Occupation Medal (Germany).  (His European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal should reflect 4 Bronze Service Stars as shown in the battles and campaigns section of his Separation Document).

3.  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 wounds received in action on 17 December 1944; 

b.  showing that he also received the BSM (based on the CIB), the American Campaign Medal and the Army of Occupation Medal (Germany); and

	c.  correcting the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal to reflect 4 Bronze Service Stars.

BOARD VOTE:  

___jh ___  ____hbo_  ____cla _  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		_________June Hajjar__________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2001051533	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20010405	
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.