PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:           18 April 2002                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2001065512

	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. Fred N. Eichorn		Chairperson	
	Ms. Barbara J. Ellis		Member	
	Mr. Ronald E. Blakely		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 he was assigned to Companies A and C of the 10th Armored (Infantry) Battalion, 4th Armored Division.

3.  The applicant states that he served with Companies A and C of the 10th Armored (Infantry) Battalion, 4th Armored Division for four and one-half years.  He was transferred to the 9th Armored Division only for discharge. 

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’s Separation Qualification Record, WD AGO Form 100, shows he entered active service on 9 July 1941, worked in coordination with the 4th Armored Division in France, Belgium, and Germany, and separated on              24 October 1945.  His Honorable Discharge Certificate shows he was assigned to Company C, 27th Armored Infantry Battalion (9th Armored Division) at the time of his separation.  

6.  The applicant’s reconstructed Report of Separation, WD AGO Form 53-55, shows his organization as Company C, 27th Armored Infantry Battalion.  It shows he received credit for the Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, and Central Europe campaigns.  It shows he was awarded the Purple Heart with first oak leaf cluster on General Orders 94, Headquarters, 4th Armored Division.  

7.  Department of the Army Pamphlet 672-3 shows that the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, 9th Armored Division received credit for the Ardennes, Central Europe, and Rhineland campaigns.  The 10th Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division received credit for the Normandy, Northern France, and Rhineland campaigns. 

8.  Technical Manual 12-235, which prescribed the policy and procedures for the preparation and distribution of separation documents during the period in question, stated that the last unit, or similar element to which the individual was assigned, rather than the element of which he was a part while moving to a separation activity, would be entered in item 6 (organization) of the WD AGO Form 53-55.  It also noted that assignments to units for the purpose of transfer from a theater to the United States was considered part of the movement to a separation activity.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant’s WD AGO Form 100 shows that he worked in coordination with the 4th Armored Division.  His reconstructed WD AGO Form 53-55 shows that orders issued by Headquarters, 4th Armored Division awarded him the Purple Heart with first oak leaf cluster.  It shows he received credit for the Normandy and Northern France campaigns, two campaigns which Department of the Army Pamphlet 672-3 verifies were credited to the 10th Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division but not to the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, 9th Armored Division.

2.  The Board concludes that there is sufficient evidence to show the applicant was assigned to the 10th Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division and was most likely transferred to the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, 9th Armored Division only for demobilization purposes.  Which company he was last assigned to cannot be determined.

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

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That the applicant’s records be corrected to show he was assigned to the 10th Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division at the time of his separation on 24 October 1945.

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

BOARD VOTE:  

__fne___  __bje___  __reb___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

			Fred N. Eichorn
		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2001065512	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20020418	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(GRANT)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	100.00	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.