PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF: 

	BOARD DATE:  21 August 2001
	DOCKET NUMBER:  AR2001058048

	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. Paul A. Petty		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. James E. Vick		Chairperson	
	Mr. William D. Barr		Member	
	Ms. Barbara J. Ellis		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, that he be awarded the Purple Heart.

3.  The applicant states, in effect, that he was wounded during World War II but his discharge document does not list a Purple Heart.

4.  The applicant’s military records show that he was inducted on 21 October 1942.  He rose to the rank of Technical Sergeant.  He was assigned to 
Company B, 56th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division, while it was engaged in combat in France.  He was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) on 11 December 1944 while assigned to this unit.

5.  His enlisted record shows that he received a penetrating wound in the shoulder blades on 16 January 1945 in France.  The Office of The Surgeon General Hospital Admission Card data base corroborates this information and adds that the wound was a battle casualty and that an operation was performed to remove fragments, potentially from an artillery shell.

6.  The applicant received a battlefield commission to Second Lieutenant on or about 20 February 1945.  He was discharge as a First Lieutenant on 20 March 1946.

7.  According to AR 600-8-22, Military Awards, award of the Purple Heart is made to soldiers wounded, injured, or killed from an outside force or agent as a result of an action against an enemy or an act of any such enemy.  The wound for which the award is made must have required treatment by medical personnel and records of medical treatment for wounds or injuries received in action must have been made a matter of official record.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant was wounded in battle and entitled to 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 be corrected for the individual concerned by showing that he was awarded the Purple Heart and providing him with the medal.

BOARD VOTE:  

__jv___  __wb____  ___be____  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______James E. Vick___
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2001058048	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20010821	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	107.0015 – Purple Heart	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.