PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:           20 September 2001                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2001058971

	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. Raymond J. Wagner		Chairperson	
	Mr. Kenneth W. Lapin		Member	
	Ms. Paula Mokulis		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 he be awarded the Purple Heart.

3.  The applicant states that a piece of shrapnel entered his hand between the index finger and thumb of his left hand and he was operated on in April 1945.

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

5.  The applicant was inducted into the Army on 20 May 1944.  He arrived in the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater of Operations on 15 January 1945.  He was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge on 13 February 1945.  

6.  Office of the Surgeon General Hospital Admission Cards shows that the applicant was hospitalized on 29 April 1945 for a laceration wound to the fingers caused by a battle injury.  He was discharged from the hospital on 5 May 1945.

7.  The applicant departed the Theater on 13 July 1945 and was separated on  11 April 1946.

8.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides 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.  It provides for award of the BSM      to 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.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The evidence of record shows that the applicant met the eligibility criteria for award of the Purple Heart and for award of the Bronze Star Medal (based upon his award of the Combat Infantryman Badge).

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

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by awarding the applicant the Purple Heart for wounds received in action on 29 April 1945 and the Bronze Star Medal.

2.  That the applicant’s Report of Separation, WD AGO 53-55 be amended to add the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star Medal and to show he was wounded in action on 29 April 1945 (shrapnel wound to the fingers).

BOARD VOTE:  

__rjw___  __kwl___  __pm____  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

			Raymond J. Wagner
		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2001058971	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20010920	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(GRANT)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	107.0015	
2.	107.0014	
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.