PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:     

	BOARD DATE:           17 Sept 2002                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2002067754

	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. W. E. Schnupp		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Elzey J. Arledge, Jr.		Chairperson	
	Mr. Thomas B. Redfern		Member	
	Ms. Karen A. Heinz		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 he was wounded during a firefight near Bonn, Germany, in 1945.  Due to the situation, he refused to go to an aid station.  Subsequently, all parties involved neglected to submit him for a Purple Heart.  Because he chose to stay with his platoon rather than go to an aid station, he missed the opportunity for the Purple Heart.  At this time in his life, the decoration is very important to him.

4.  In support of his request, he submits copies of his WD AGO Form 53-98, Military Record and Report of Separation, Officer Certificate of Service, his enlisted record, a Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) Rating Decision awarding him service connection for a shell fragment wound scar to the lower right calf with retained foreign body, four eyewitness statements of his wounding and a newspaper article describing his service and wounding during World War II.

5.  The applicant’s military records were lost or destroyed in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center.  Information herein is based on documents provided by the applicant and from alternate sources.

6.  The applicant was inducted on 17 February 1943 and trained as a light weapons infantryman.  He completed 2 years, 3 months and 11 days service as an enlisted man rising to the rank of technical sergeant.  He was discharged and immediately accepted an appointment (battlefield commission) as a 2nd lieutenant, infantry, on 28 May 1945.  He served in both the European and Asiatic-Pacific Theaters of Operation and was honorably discharged on 4 August 1946 in the grade of 2nd lieutenant.

7.  Awards shown on his officer and enlisted records are the Expert Infantryman Badge, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the American Theater Service Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Service Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Service Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the World War II Honorable Service Lapel Button.  On 9 January 1989, at the behest of his congressional representative, the Army Reserve Personnel Center issued him the Bronze Star Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, 2 bronze service stars (to be worn on the European-African-Middle Eastern Service Medal) and the Army of Occupation Medal with Germany clasp.  

8.  The available records do not show that he received any wounds in action nor is the Purple Heart listed as an authorized award.

9.  The applicant says, and two of the witnesses confirm, that he was assigned to Company G, 387th Infantry, 97th Infantry Division in the European Theater of Operations.  This information is supported essentially by the fact that his award of the Combat Infantryman Badge was awarded per a general order published by the 387th Infantry.

10.  On 6 December 1999 the DVA made a decision that found the applicant was determined to have service connection for a shell fragment wound scar to the lower right leg with retention of a metallic foreign body.  Although the DVA determined that the applicant’s service medal records showed no evidence of his wound, their own examination revealed the scarring and the foreign metal object under his skin.  Furthermore, the buddy statements he submitted in support of his DVA claim, which are the same statements submitted in support of his request to this Board, were determined to be credible enough by the DVA to support its determination.  Therefore, reasonable doubt was resolved in favor of the applicant and he was granted compensation for a service-connected disability. 

11.  The supporting eyewitness statements submitted by the applicant include one statement from a witness who was with him at the time he was wounded in April 1945.  In addition to being present when the applicant was wounded, this witness says that he was also the company medic and that he personally provided first aid to the applicant.  The witness says that at the time, the applicant asked him not to report the fact of his wounding so that he could remain with his platoon.  The witness goes on to say that the applicant, “took a hit just above the ankle.”

12.  The other three witnesses confirm that the applicant sustained a wound to the leg as a result of enemy shrapnel.  While all three say that they spoke to the applicant shortly after he was wounded and saw his injury, none witnessed the actual wounding take place.

13.  The World War II hospital admission files created by The Office of the Surgeon General do not list the applicant as a combat casualty.

14.  Army Regulation 600-8-22, Military Awards, 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 by a medical officer, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.

15.  Department of the Army Pamphlet 672-1, Unit Citation and Campaign Participation Credit Register, shows that the applicant’s unit, the 387th Infantry, 97th Infantry Division was awarded occupation credit for Germany from 2 May to 4 June 1945.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  While the applicant’s records contain no reference to his having been wounded in action, the statement from the eyewitness, who also happened to be the medic that treated his wounds at the time, makes a compelling case for finding that he was wounded in action.

2.  The other witness statements more or less confirm the applicant’s injury and establish that it occurred in a combat situation.  The fact of his injury is further borne out by the DVA examination.

3.  After weighing all of the circumstantial evidence in this case, it appears to the Board that the applicant was probably wounded in action in Germany in April 1945 as he contends.  Therefore, it would be appropriate to award him the Purple Heart for this combat related injury and to show it on his separation document.

4.  Insofar as his other awards are concerned, the evidence in the available records confirms that he is entitled to all of the individual and unit awards described above.  Accordingly, it would be appropriate to show the additional awards that are not now reflected on his separation document on that document. 

5.  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 by: 

	a.  showing that he was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in action in Germany in April 1945; and 

b.  amending his separation document to show that he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, 2 bronze service stars (to be worn 

on the European-African-Middle Eastern Service Medal) and the Army of Occupation Medal with Germany clasp.

BOARD VOTE:  

___eja___  ___kah__  ___tbr __  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		________Elzey J. Arledge, Jr._____
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2002067754	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20020917	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR . . . . .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(GRANT PLUS)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.  107.00		
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.