PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:       

	BOARD DATE:            22 July 2003
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2003084693

	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	
	Ms. Deyon D. Battle		Analyst	

The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. John N. Slone		Chairperson	
	Mr. Thomas D. Howard		Member	
	Mr. Thomas Lanyi		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 the military occupational specialty (MOS) and number currently reflected on his Report of Separation (WD AGO Form 53-55) be changed from cook (060) to telephone and telegraph lineman (238).

3.  The applicant states that he was never a cook while he was in the Army.  He states that during his service he served as a Medical Corp truck driver and most of his time as a telephone lineman.  He states that his last year of service was in Europe where he served as a telephone lineman in Headquarters Company 1st Battalion, 359th Infantry. 

4.  The applicant's military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  Information herein was obtained from the available documentation.

5.  He was inducted into the Army on 23 December 1940.  He completed 4 years, 7 months and 13 days of total active service and he was honorably discharged on 19 June 1945.

6.  The WD AGO Form 53-55 that he was furnished at the time of his discharge shows that he was awarded three Bronze Service Stars for his participation in Normandy, Northern France and Germany Campaigns.  His awards include the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the American Defense Service Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Campaign Medal, three Overseas Service Bars and the Marksman Badge w/Rifle Bar.

7.  His WD AGO Form 53-55 also shows his MOS as cook (060).  However, his Separation Qualification Record (WD AGO Form 100) shows that he performed the duties of a cook for 1 year and 4 months.  It also shows that he performed the duties of a telephone and telegraph lineman (238) for 1 year and 8 months.

8.  Technical Manual (TM) 12-235 (Enlisted Personnel Discharge Procedures and Preparation of Separation Forms) in effect at that time served as the authority for the preparation of the WD AGO Forms 53-55.  It states, in pertinent part, that all entries on this form except items 39 and 43 are to apply only to the current period of active duty.  However, TM 12-235 made no provisions for the inclusion or exclusion of more than one MOS.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  A review of the available documents fails to confirm the applicant’s contention that he never held a cook MOS.  His WD AGO Forms 53-55 and 100 both show that he held a cook MOS.  Therefore, there is no basis for granting the portion of his request regarding changing the cook MOS.

2.  However his WD AGO Form 100 also shows that he held a telephone and telegraph lineman MOS for 1 year and 8 months.  The MOS and number were erroneously omitted from his WD AGO Form 53-55; therefore, his records should be corrected appropriately.

3.  There were no provisions in TM 12-235 that excluded the inclusion of more that than one MOS on his WD AGO Form 53-55.  Therefore, this Board finds that it would be in the interest of justice to correct his WD AGO Form 53-55 to include the telephone and telegraph lineman MOS and number.

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

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by amending the WD AGO Form 53-55 of the individual concerned to include telephone and telegraph lineman (238) MOS and number.

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

BOARD VOTE:  

__tdh____  __js ____  ___tl ___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		_____John N. Slone______
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2003084693	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	2003/07/22	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.  1021	100.0000	
2.  6	100.0500	
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.