PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:  20 September 2001
	DOCKET NUMBER:  AR2001057846

	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.  Joyce A. Wright		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Raymond J. Wagner		Chairperson	
	Ms. Paula Mokulis		Member	
	Mr. Kenneth W. Lapin		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, as the next of kin of a deceased former service member (FSM), his late brother’s WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation) be corrected to show that he was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in action in Germany during World War II.

3.  The applicant states that the FSM was wounded in action and should have been awarded the Purple Heart.  In support of his application he submits a copy of the FSM’s WD AGO Form 53-55, a copy of the FSM’s VA Form 21-6896 (Disability Pension Award), a copy of the FSM’s death certificate, and a copy of
letter from the FSM to his brother.

4.  The FSM’s military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  Records available to the Board were obtained from alternate sources and show he was inducted on 25 May 1942 as a utility repairman (121).  He served in the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater of Operations from 4 December 1942 to on or about 5 November 1945 and was honorably discharged on 2 December 1945. 

5.  The FSM’s WD AGO Form 53-55 does not show the Purple Heart as an authorized award. 

6.  Item 34 (Wounds Received in Action) of the FSM’s WD AGO Form 53-55, which was authenticated in his own hand, shows the entry “None”.  There is no record that the FSM was awarded the Purple Heart. 

7.  The applicant provided a copy of the FSM’s Disability Pension Award which shows that the FSM was granted a 10 percent service-connected disability, 
on 9 January 1963, for his left thigh wound.

8.  There are no service medical records which show that the FSM was wounded as a result of hostile action or treated for wounds resulting from hostile action.

9.  The applicant provided a copy of a letter from the FSM to his brother, dated 13 December 1944, in which he stated that he was in England and in a hospital for a leg wound he received in Germany on 24 November 1944.

10.  A copy of a Surgeon General’s Officer (SGO) Hospital Listing was provided
by the Army Review Boards Agency Support Division in St. Louis, Missouri on 27 August 2001.  The SGO Hospital Listing shows that the FSM was admitted to the hospital on 24 November 1944 as a battle injury.  He was diagnosed as having a thigh wound which was caused by an artillery shell.

11.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 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, and the medical treatment
must have been made a matter of official record.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The evidence of record shows that the FSM received a thigh wound on 24 November 1944 while serving in the European Theater of Operations.  Therefore, the FSM is entitled to correction of his records to show the award of the Purple Heart.

2.  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 for the FSM 
be corrected by showing that he was awarded the Purple Heart for a wound on
24 November 1944.

BOARD VOTE:  

__rw___  __pm___  __kl___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		___Raymond J. Wagner___
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2001057846	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20010920	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	HD	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	19451202	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR 615-365	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.  61		
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.