PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:           24 July 2001                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2001055458

	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	
	Mrs. Nancy Amos		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. John N. Slone		Chairperson	
	Ms. Margaret V. Thompson		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 that his Report of Separation be amended to add the 2d award of the Purple Heart and the 2d award of the Bronze Star Medal (BSM).

3.  The applicant makes no additional statement.

4.  The applicant’s military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire in 1973.  The information contained herein was obtained from alternate sources.

5.  The applicant was inducted into the Army on 15 May 1943 and entered active service on 22 May 1943.  He arrived in the European Theater of Operations on   5 November 1943 and departed on 23 December 1944.  He was discharged with a certificate of disability on 24 July 1945.  His Report of Separation shows he served as a rifleman and was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster, and the BSM.

6.  The applicant provided two BSM certificates, both dated 20 January 1958.  One was for the BSM for heroism in ground combat near Warencourt, France on 23 September 1944.  The other was for the BSM 1st oak leaf cluster for meritorious achievement in ground operations against the enemy during the Naples-Foggia Campaign.

7.  The Bronze Star Medal was established by Executive Order 9419, 4 February 1944.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides for the award of the BSM to any person who distinguished himself or herself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight, in connection with military operations against an armed enemy.  It also provides that members of the armed forces who, after 6 December 1941 and prior to 3 September 1945, have been cited in orders or in a formal certificate for meritorious or exemplary conduct in ground combat against the armed enemy.  A citation in orders for the Combat Infantryman Badge or Medical Badge awarded in the field during the period of actual combat against the armed enemy is considered as a citation for exemplary conduct in ground combat.  It provides that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained as a result of hostile action.  A Purple Heart is authorized for the first wound; for each subsequent award an oak leaf cluster will be awarded.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant’s Report of Separation already reflects his two awards of the Purple Heart by indicating he was awarded the Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster.

2.  The Board accepts the award certificates provided as evidence that the applicant was awarded two awards of the BSM.  It appears that he was awarded the first BSM for a specific act of heroism performed on 23 September 1944 (after the establishment of the BSM).  It appears that the BSM 1st oak leaf cluster was awarded as a result of his award of the Combat Infantryman Badge; i. e., for meritorious achievement in ground operations against the enemy.  It would be appropriate to add this second award of the BSM to his Report of Separation.

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

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That the applicant’s Report of Separation be amended to add the 2d award of the Bronze Star Medal.

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

BOARD VOTE:  

__jns___  __mvt___  __wdp___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

			John N. Slone
		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2001055458	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20010724	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(GRANT)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	110.04	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.