MEMORANDUM OF CONSIDERATION

	IN THE CASE OF:   

	BOARD DATE:           27 June 2002
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2002070114

	I certify that hereinafter is recorded the record of consideration of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in the case of the above-named individual.

	Mr. Carl W. S. Chun		Director	
	Ms. Nancy L. Amos		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. Irene N. Wheelwright		Chairperson	
	Ms. Kathleen A. Newman		Member	
	Mr. Richard T. Dunbar		Member	

	The Board, established pursuant to authority contained in 10 U.S.C. 1552, convened at the call of the Chairperson on the above date.  In accordance with Army Regulation 15-185, the application and the available military records pertinent to the corrective action requested were reviewed to determine whether to authorize a formal hearing, recommend that the records be corrected without a formal hearing, or to deny the application without a formal hearing if it is determined that insufficient relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the existence of probable material error or injustice.

	The applicant requests correction of military records as stated in the application to the Board and as restated herein.

	The Board considered the following evidence:

	Exhibit A - Application for correction of military 
records
	Exhibit B - Military Personnel Records (including
advisory opinion, if any)

APPLICANT REQUESTS:  In effect, that he be awarded the Purple Heart.

APPLICANT STATES:  That he incurred hearing loss due to a perforated eardrum, body scars, and a head injury.  He provides as supporting evidence his Report of Separation, WD AGO Form 53-55; an Award of Disability Compensation or Pension, VA Form P-80a; and an Outpatient Routing Slip showing his service-connected disabilities which include scars and impaired hearing.

EVIDENCE OF RECORD:  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.

The applicant was inducted into the Army on 29 March 1943 and entered active service on 6 April 1943.  He arrived in the European Theater of Operations on  16 February 1945 and departed on 24 March 1946.  He separated on 9 April 1946.  His WD AGO Form 53-55 shows his military occupational specialty as Utility Repairman and his unit as the 546th Signal Base Depot Company.  Item 34, Wounds Received in Action, indicates “None.”  The applicant signed the WD AGO Form 53-55.

The only available service medical records are mostly illegible but date from      14 April 1943 (gastritis), 21 April 1943 (what appears to be an Eyes/Ears/Nose/Throat (EENT) appointment), September 1943 (rash on the right hand and EENT) and several 1944 EENT entries.

On or about 2 May 1946, the applicant was awarded a 10 percent service-connected disability pension for hearing loss of the right ear with perforated ear drum.  It was noted that varicose veins in his left thigh were also service connected but less than 10 percent disabling.  Stomach trouble was determined to be not service connected.

A Veterans Administration Clinical Record, Report of Ears/Nose/Throat Examination dated 5 March 1985 indicated that the applicant was not in combat. He was in the Signal Corps taking care of radar units.  While in France stomach trouble developed.  This happened after a mine blast.  He was not in the jeep but was close by and his ears were injured so that he got very bad dizzy spells thereafter with headaches.  

A 14 February 1996 letter from the applicant’s attorney requested his medical records.  It noted that the applicant stated he was wounded sometime in April 1945 at Toul, France when a jeep struck a land mine near where he was standing and he suffered a concussion as well as shrapnel wounds.

The historical files of the 546th Signal Depot and 7th Army were reviewed at the National Archives, College Park, MD but failed to show the applicant’s entitlement to award of the Purple Heart.

Army Regulation 600-8-22 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.

DISCUSSION:  Considering all the evidence, allegations, and information presented by the applicant, together with the evidence of record, applicable law and regulations, it is concluded:

1.  The Board appreciates the applicant’s service during World War II but there is no evidence of record and he provides none to show he was wounded as a result of enemy action.

2.  In view of the foregoing, there is no basis for granting the applicant's request.

DETERMINATION:  The applicant has failed to submit sufficient relevant evidence to demonstrate the existence of probable error or injustice.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

_ _INW_ _  __KAN__  __RTD__  DENY APPLICATION

		    Carl W. S. Chun
		    Director, Army Board for Correction
    of Military Records

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2002070114	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	2002/06/27	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	DENY	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	107.0015	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.