PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:           12 April 2000                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999030857

	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. Joyce A. Hughes .		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 Award of the Purple Heart (PH).

3.  The applicant states, in effect that he received wounds to his knee when a shell landed behind him and blew him against the wall and down a flight of stairs. He further states, that his injury was a result of combat and he spent 
11 months in the hospital.  He was not issued the PH award.  On a separate correspondence the applicant mentioned that he never received his Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB). 

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

5.  He was inducted into the Army on 3 January 1944 and entered active service on 24 January 1944.  He was awarded military occupational specialty (MOS) 745 (Rifleman).

6.  He served in the European Theater of Operations between 20 October 1944 to 14 March 1945, with Company B, 398th Infantry Regiment.

7.  The Office of the Surgeon General Hospital Admission Cards show that the applicant was admitted to the hospital on 13 November 1944, for treatment of a knee injury.  He was also treated for Psychoneurosis, anxiety.  The knee injury was categorized as (non-battle) no other information was given.  He was separated on 14 September 1945.

8.  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.

9.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides for the award of the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) 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 Bronze Star Medal (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 applicant maintains that the injury to his knee was caused by hostile fire,
there is no available corroborating evidence to support his contention.  

2.  The only available evidence of record corroborating a knee injury is the 
Admission and Disposition Report, which substantiated his injury, however, his injury was categorized as (non-battle). 

3.  The Board concludes that there is sufficient evidence of record to show that the applicant was an infantryman and served with an infantry unit presumably participated in ground combat with that unit.  Therefore, he was entitled to the CIB.  Based upon eligibility for an award of the CIB, the applicant was also entitled to the BSM.

4.  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:

     a.  awarding the CIB and the BSM to the individual concerned; and

     b.  by correcting the applicant’s WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation) to show that he was awarded the CIB and BSM.

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

BOARD VOTE:  

__rgh___  __bje___  __jps___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

			Robert G. Hinkle
		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999030857	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20000412	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	107.0015	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.