PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:           19 March 2002                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2001062135

	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. G. E. Vandenberg		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. Shirley L. Powell  		Chairperson	
	Mr. Stanley Kelley		Member	
	Mr. Elzey J. Arledge 		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 records be corrected to show that he was awarded the Purple Heart.

3.  The applicant states that he was wounded in combat and the commanding general pinned the medal on him and a few days later he was returned to duty.

4.  The applicant's military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  Information herein was obtained from other sources.  The applicant entered active duty on 28 February 1951 and was released from active duty on 27 November 1952 and served with Company F, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division in Korea.  

5.  The applicant’s Certificate of Discharge or Separation (DD Form 214) shows, at item 29 (Wounds received as a result of action with enemy forces), an injury to his back on 11 September 1951.

6.  The applicant also submits a copy of the telegram to his parents indicating he was wounded in action and a 18 September 1951 letter from the Commanding General of the 2nd Infantry Division thanking him for his “courageous and soldierly actions in carrying our your duties as a result of which you were wounded.   We truly hope your luck will be better and that this injury from which you are now recovering will be the last one you incur on the battlefield.”

7.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, the Purple Heart is awarded to an individual who is wounded in action against an enemy of the United States, the armed force of a foreign country which is or has been engaged, while serving with a friendly foreign forces against an opposing force even though the U.S. is not engaged, as the result of any act of such enemy or opposing force or as a result an act of any hostile foreign force.  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.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The Board concludes that the available evidence is sufficient to demonstrate that the applicant was wounded as a result of hostile action, that this wound required care by a medical officer and, but for the loss of his records, this treatment would have been of record.

2.    In view of the foregoing findings and conclusions, correcting the applicant’s records as recommended below will correct these errors.

RECOMMENDATION:

That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected to show that the individual concerned is entitled to the Purple Heart for wounds sustained on 11 September 1951.

BOARD VOTE:  

_ SLP __  __SK    __  ___ EJA_  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		_       Shirley L. Powell_ _____
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2001062135	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20020319	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	107.0015	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.