PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:     

	BOARD DATE:           20 December 2001                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:  AR2001054414

	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:

	Mr. John N. Slone		Chairperson	
	Mr. Thomas B. Redfern		Member	
	Mr. Lester Echols		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 Purple Heart be added to his separation papers.

3.  The applicant states that he received a Purple Heart but it was never recorded on his separation papers.

4.  In support of his application he submits a letter from a former private who served with him in WWII.  In that letter the former private states that he was wounded the same day as the applicant, March 14th.  The former private included a copy of the unit’s morning report in which it is shown that the applicant, along with 13 other soldiers, were lightly wounded in action near Serrig, Germany, on 14 March (year is unclear) and medivaced through the 114th Medical Battalion to a hospital to be determined by the 114th Medical Battalion.

5.  The applicant’s military records could not be located and are presumed to have been destroyed in the fire at the records repository in 1973.  The following information was derived from documents provided by the applicant himself.

6.  He was inducted on active duty on 19 October 1943, was awarded the military occupational specialty (MOS) of rifleman (MOS 745), light machine gunner (MOS 604), and Platoon Sergeant (MOS 745); was promoted to Technical Sergeant, and served in the Central Europe, Northern France and Rhineland campaigns while assigned to Company I, 101st Infantry, 26th Infantry Division.  He was honorably released from active duty on 5 January 1946 due to the demobilization of the force after cessation of hostilities.  His WD AGO Form 53-55, Enlisted Record and Report of Separation Honorable Discharge, lists his awards and decorations as the American Service Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Service Medal, and the WWII Victory Medal.  Item 34 of that form, Wounds Received in Action, has “none” entered.

7.  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).  Searches of these files fail to show that the applicant was treated for any wounds during WWII.

8.  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.

9.  War Department Circular 269-1943 established the Combat Infantryman Badge to recognize and provide an incentive to infantrymen.  The Combat Infantryman Badge was awarded for exemplary conduct in action against the enemy.  War Department Circular 186-1944 further provided that the Combat Infantryman Badge was to be awarded only to infantrymen serving with infantry units of brigade, regimental or smaller size.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that World War II holders of the Combat Infantryman Badge are entitled to an award of the Bronze Star Medal.

10.  The Awards Branch, Total Army Personnel Command, has advised in similar cases that, during World War II, the Combat Infantryman Badge was normally awarded only to enlisted individuals who served in the following positions:

    a.  Light machine gunner (604)
    b.  Heavy machine gunner (605)
    c.  Platoon sergeant (651)
    d.  Squad leader (653)
    e.  Rifleman (745)
    f.  Automatic rifleman (746)
    g.  Heavy weapons NCO (812)
    h.  Gun crewman (864)

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The Board is faced with somewhat contradictory evidence.  On one hand, the applicant’s separation papers and the SGO files indicate the applicant was not wounded in action.  On the other hand, the eyewitness statement and the morning report both show that the applicant was wounded and medevaced as a result of that wound.

2.  In the face of this contradictory evidence, the Board will make the presumption that, since the applicant was medevaced for “light” wounds, his treatment records did not make the transition to his personnel file.  Such a presumption, based on the fact that the wound was incurred during the height of hostilities during a World War, is not hard to believe.

3.  In addition, the applicant was an infantryman serving in a company sized infantry unit while the unit was engaged in hostilities with an enemy force.  Because the applicant was promoted to Technical Sergeant and was given the position of Platoon Sergeant, his conduct was certainly considered exemplary by his chain of command.  As such, the applicant is also entitled to the Combat Infantryman Badge and, based on that badge, the Bronze Star Medal.

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 the individual concerned was awarded the Purple Heart;

b.  showing that he was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge; and

c.  showing that he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal based on his award of the Combat Infantryman Badge.

BOARD VOTE:  

__le____  ___jns___  ____tbr__  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________   DENY APPLICATION

		_________John N. Slone______
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2001054414	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20011220	
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.