PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:           25 April 2002                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2002069683

	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:

	Ms. Joann Langston		Chairperson	
	Mr. George D. Paxson		Member	
	Mr. Charles Gainor		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 Report of Separation, WD AGO Form 53-55, be corrected to show he is entitled to a fifth bronze service star and to show he was wounded on 24 February 1945.

3.  The applicant states that he was with the 445th Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA) Battalion and so is entitled to five bronze service stars.  He states that he was wounded on 24 February 1945, not 24 February 1944.  He provides his WD AGO Form 53-55, a 445th AAA Battalion directory, and a copy of an unidentified document showing some unit (identified in his handwriting as the 445th AAA Battalion) was authorized battle credits for the United Kingdom Ground Combat #4, Normandy, Northern France, Central Europe, and Rhineland.

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 12 October 1942 and entered active duty on 26 October 1942.  He departed the continental United States on 21 February 1944 and arrived in England on 24 February 1944.  His WD AGO Form 53-55, item 34 shows he was wounded in Germany on 24 February 1944.  Item 32 shows he was credited with four campaigns – Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, and Ground Combat – England.  He departed the European Theater on 6 December 1945, arrived in the United States on 20 December 1945, and separated on 24 December 1945.  Item 6 of his WD AGO Form 53-55 shows his organization as Company B, 294th Combat Engineer Battalion.

6.  Department of the Army Pamphlet 672-1 shows that the 294th Combat Engineer Battalion received campaign credit for the Ardennes, Central Europe, Normandy, and Rhineland campaigns.  It shows the 445th AAA Battalion received campaign credit for the Normandy, Northern France, Central Europe, Rhineland, and European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Ground Combat campaigns.

7.  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.  It appears the applicant could not have been wounded in Germany on          24 February 1944 since that was the date he arrived in England.  Despite there being no other evidence to show when he was wounded, any reasonable doubt should be resolved in favor of the applicant and the Board therefore presumes item 34 of his WD AGO Form 53-55 merely contains a typographical error.

2.  While it appears that Company B, 294th Combat Engineer Battalion may have been only a unit to which the applicant was assigned for transfer purposes (only one of the four campaigns listed on the applicant’s WD AGO Form 53-55 matches the four campaigns credited to that unit), there is no evidence of record and the applicant provides none to corroborate his contention that he was assigned to the 445th AAA Battalion.  

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

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That item 34 of the applicant’s WD AGO Form 53-55 be amended to show he was wounded in Germany on 24 February 1945.

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

BOARD VOTE:  

__jl____  __gdp___  __cg____  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

			Joann Langston
		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2002069683	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20020425	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(GRANT)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	100.00	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.