PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:             26 April 2000                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:    AR1999030055

	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. W. E. Schnupp		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Stanley Kelley		Chairperson	
	Ms. Karol A. Kennedy		Member	
	Mr. Curtis L. Greenway		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 Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) and the Bronze Star Medal (BSM) for meritorious service.  He also requests that the diagnostic code under which he was discharged, 5257 be corrected to 5314 

3.  The applicant states that he would like his discharge papers upgraded to show all of the awards to which he is entitled and that he has been paid            30 percent instead of 40 percent compensation since his discharge as a result of the incorrect diagnostic code associated with his discharge.

4.  In support of his request, he has provided a copy of his WD AGO Form 55, Enlisted Record, and a copy of the appeal on his behalf by the DAV to his VA compensation decision.

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

6.  His Enlisted Record shows that he was inducted on 1 February 1943 then released and transferred to the Enlisted Reserve Corps.  He was recalled to active duty on 8 February 1943.  His military specialty was rifleman and he served in the European Theater of Operations from June 1943 to March 1944.  He was honorably discharged with a Certificate of Disability Discharge on         22 September 1944.

7.  His awards include the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the Honorable Service Lapel Button.  The record does not reflect that he was awarded the CIB or the BSM.

8.  The documentation he has provided regarding the diagnostic codes under which he was discharged appears to relate to diagnostic codes assigned by the VA for compensation purposes.

9.  Army Regulation 600-8-22, Military Awards, provides, in pertinent part, that to be eligible for the CIB, an individual must be an infantryman with an infantry military occupational specialty and must perform primary duty as an infantryman, as a member of an infantry unit of brigade or smaller size, during any period in which that unit was engaged in ground combat.  Battle participation credit alone is not sufficient.

10.  During World War II, the Combat Infantryman Badge was awarded to enlisted men serving in military occupational specialty 604 (light machine gunner), 605 (heavy machine gunner), 651 (platoon sergeant), 653 (squad leader), 745 (rifleman), 746 (automatic rifleman), and 812 (heavy weapons noncommissioned officer).

11.  Subsequent to the cessation of hostilities during World War II, the regulation governing the award of the BSM was changed, in part, to provide for the award of this decoration to those individuals who had been awarded the CIB or the Combat Medical Badge for meritorious achievement in ground combat against the armed enemy between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945.

12.  The awards regulation also authorized the American Campaign Medal to be awarded for service in the American Theater between 7 December 1941 and      2 March 1946.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant’s record contains no evidence to show that he was assigned to an infantry unit, served as a infantryman in combat or was awarded the CIB.  He contends, however, that he was assigned to the 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division during World War II.  

2.  While his assignment with the 45th Infantry Division cannot be verified from the available evidence, it certainly appears that he was in combat as an infantryman when one considers that his military specialty was rifleman and he was awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart.  In recognition of these facts, it would be appropriate to award him the CIB.  And, of course, with award of the CIB he is also entitled to the BSM under the revised procedures noted above.

3.  Additionally, based on the applicant’s period of service in the European Theater of Operation he is also entitled to the American Campaign Medal.

4.  Insofar as his request to change the diagnostic code relating to his disability discharge is concerned, he has provided no evidence and the record contains no evidence to show that these codes were assigned by the Army.  It appears more likely that the codes were determined by the VA and are not subject to change by this Board.  

5.  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:

	a.  showing that the individual concerned was awarded the CIB and the BSM (based on the CIB) and the American Campaign Medal for service during World War II; and

	b.  issuing a correction to his WD AGO Form 55 reflecting his entitlement to the aforementioned awards.

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

BOARD VOTE:  

___sk___  ___kak___  ____clg_  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		________Stanley Kelley______
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999030055	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	2000046	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR . . . . .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(GRANT)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.  107.00		
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.