PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:           12 April 2000                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999030388

	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.  

	Mrs. Nancy Amos		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Robert G. Hinkle		Chairperson	
	Ms. Barbara J. Ellis		Member	
	Mr. James P. Stueve		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 Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) be added to his Report of Separation and that he be awarded the Bronze Star Medal (BSM).

3.  The applicant states that he was awarded the CIB and he has the award.  Since he has the CIB, he is entitled to the BSM.  At the time of his separation he was assigned to the 22d Finance but he did serve as a rifleman with the 63d Infantry Division and 90th Division in the Battle of the Bulge.

4.  The applicant’s military records from his World War II service are not available and may have been lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire in 1973.  The information contained herein was obtained from alternate sources.

5.  The applicant was a college student when he was inducted into the Army on 28 January 1944 and entered active service on 18 February 1944.  He completed infantry basic training and arrived in the European Theater of Operations on        8 December 1944.  His Separation Qualification Record shows he served as a light machine gunner for 1 month and a rifleman for 1 month.  Office of the Surgeon General Hospital Admission Cards show that he was an infantry soldier when he was hospitalized on 12 January 1945 for a laceration wound to his fingers and an abrasion wound to his knee caused by artillery shell fragments and trench foot.  He was discharged from the hospital in April 1945.  His Separation Qualification Record shows he served as a finance clerk for             12 months.  He was separated on 11 May 1946.

6.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides for the award of the Combat Infantryman Badge to a soldier who is an infantryman satisfactorily performing infantry duties, who is assigned to an infantry unit during such time as the unit is engaged in active ground combat, and must actively participate in such ground combat.  It also provides for the award of the BSM to members of the armed forces who, after 6 December 1941 and prior to 3 September 1945, have been cited in orders or in a formal certificate for meritorious or exemplary conduct in ground combat against the armed enemy.  A citation in orders for the Combat Infantryman Badge or Medical Badge awarded in the field during the period of actual combat against the armed enemy is considered as a citation for exemplary conduct in ground combat.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The Board concludes that there is sufficient evidence of record to show that the applicant was an infantryman satisfactorily performing infantry duties, presumably with an infantry unit, and participated in ground combat with that unit.
Therefore, he was entitled to the CIB, which he states he had been awarded.

2.  Based upon eligibility for and award of the CIB, the applicant is also entitled to award of the BSM.

3.  In view of the foregoing, it would be in the interest of justice to correct the applicant’s records as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by awarding the applicant the Bronze Star Medal.

2.  That the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Bronze Star Medal be added to the applicant’s Report of Separation.

BOARD VOTE:  

__rgh___  __bje___  __jps___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

			Robert G. Hinkle
		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999030388	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20000412	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(GRANT)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	107.0014	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.