IN THE CASE OF: BOARD DATE: DOCKET NUMBER: AR20080012972 THE BOARD CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING EVIDENCE: 1. Application for correction of military records (with supporting documents provided, if any). 2. Military Personnel Records and advisory opinions (if any). THE APPLICANT'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE: 1. The applicant requests, through his elected representative, reconsideration of the Board’s denial of his request for award of the Purple Heart. 2. The applicant’s elected representative states that the applicant was injured in a mortar attack prior to him being surrendered to the Germans along with his unit. The atrocities the applicant was subjected to while he was a prisoner of war is discussed as well as the problems the applicant experienced after he was repatriated. 3. The applicant provides a timeline of events in which he chronicles his experiences in the Army; a letter from the United States Army Reserve Ambassador dated 6 September 2007; his separation document (WD AGO Form 53-55); his WD AGO Form 100; a statement from his commander dated 23 October 1992; a statement from a soldier who was captured along with the applicant; the Board’s prior considerations of his requests; and Department of Veterans Affairs records. CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE: 1. Incorporated herein by reference are military records which were summarized in the previous consideration of the applicant's case by the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) in Docket Number AC 95-11352 on 31 January 1996. 2. The applicant’s military records could not be located and are presumed to have been destroyed in the fire at the records repository at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1973. The information contained herein is derived from alternative sources. 3. The applicant was inducted on 4 March 1943 and entered active duty on 11 March 1943. He was awarded the military occupational specialty of Rifleman. 4. He arrived in the European Theater of Operations on 1 June 1944 and was assigned to the 550th Airborne Infantry Battalion, part of the 17th Airborne Division. 5. On 4 January 1945, while serving in Belgium, the applicant, along with his unit, surrendered to the Germans. 6. On 8 April 1945, the applicant was repatriated by British forces. 7. The applicant was returned to the United States, arriving on 17 June 1945, and was honorably discharged on 26 October 1945. 8. In the processing of this case the Board’s staff researched the historical files of the 550th Airborne Infantry Battalion which are stored at the National Archives.  During that search a historical journal entitled “A Bolt From The Blue” was discovered. That journal contains both the applicant’s name and the name of the officer which provided the statement attesting to having witnessed the applicant being wounded. Also discovered was the entry of the staff duty journal, dated 4 January 1945, which chronicles how the applicant’s battalion attacked its objectives, met with fierce resistance, and withdrew from its forward command post after enemy tanks and infantry surrounded the town in which Company B was located. The historical journal and the staff duty journal are new evidence which require that the Board reconsider the applicant’s request for the Purple Heart. 9. In the statement provided by the applicant, the applicant’s former commander stated “This is to certify further that Private Payne was, during combat on 3 and 4 January 1945 wounded and on 4 January was surrendered to the Germans by me.” 10. Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides that the Purple Heart is awarded for wounds 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 AND CONCLUSIONS: 1. The Board’s staff, in its research of records at the National Archives, has discovered verification that the applicant’s eyewitness statement of his wounding is from his commander at the time in question. 2. It is certainly understandable that documents which would normally document a soldier’s wound, to include medical records, would not be available in this case.  The applicant’s battalion was withdrawing from its position in the face of enemy armor and infantry, and was surrendered immediately following the applicant’s wounding. As such, the lack of such documents cannot be considered a bar to the award of the Purple Heart. 3. The applicant’s commander’s statement is considered verification that the applicant was wounded as the result of hostile action. As such, it would be appropriate to now award him the Purple Heart. BOARD VOTE: ___X____ ____X___ ___X____ GRANT FULL RELIEF ________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF ________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING ________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION: The Board determined that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant amendment of the ABCMR’s decision in Docket Number AC 95-11352 dated 31 January 1996. As a result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by awarding the individual concerned the Purple Heart. _______ X _______ ___ CHAIRPERSON I certify that herein is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in this case. ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20080012972 3 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1 ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20080012972 3 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1