PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF: 

	BOARD DATE:           24 May 2000      
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999032426

	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	
	Mr. Richard H. Allen		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. John N. Slone		Chairperson	
	Mr. Mark D. Manning		Member	
	Ms. Meta Waller		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, on two applications dated in July and October 1999,  that he be awarded the Purple Heart. 

3.  The applicant states, in essence, that he was wounded during the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, two or three days after Christmas in December 1944.  He submits a copy of a roster provided to him by the former commander of the 551st Parachute Infantry Regiment which he received during a reunion of that unit at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in June 1999.  It shows that he was wounded during World War II (WWII).

4.  The applicant’s military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  Information herein was obtained from partially reconstructed medical and pay records from WWII, and copies of his separation documents which he provided with his application.  

5.  He was inducted on 28 August 1943.  He was trained as a rifleman (military specialty 745) and a parachutist.  He was assigned to the European-African-Middle Eastern (EAME) Theater of Operations, arriving in Europe on 30 May 
1944.  Information available indicates that he was assigned to two Parachute Infantry Regiments during his assignment in Europe, specifically Company E, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division and the 551st Parachute Infantry Regiment.  While assigned to the 551st Parachute Infantry Regiment he participated in two campaigns, the Rome-Arno Campaign and the Southern France Campaign.  It appears that he participated in an actual assault landing in Southern France from 15-16 August 1944.  He was then assigned to the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment.  He was credited with participation in three campaigns with that unit, the Ardennes-Alsace Campaign, the Central Europe Campaign and the Rhineland Campaign, during the general period December 1944 and May 1945.  He returned from the EAME Theater of Operations on 30 December 1945.

6.  On 3 January 1946, he was honorably discharged.  His WD AGO Form
53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation-Honorable Discharge), and a certificate of his Honorable Discharge, which appears to be like a work sheet for the WD AGO Form 53-55, shows in item 31 (Military Qualification and Date (i.e. infantry, aviation and marksmanship badges, etc.)), that he received a number of marksman badges on various weapons.  One partial entry indicates that he may have been awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB). This entry is marked with an “*” which would indicate some type of continuation sheet, but it is not available.  Further, since he completed the Parachute School, and he was a rifleman assigned to two Parachute Infantry Regiments, it is logical to expect him to have also been awarded the Parachute Badge, but this badge is also not shown in item 31 of his WD AGO Form 53-55.     

7.  In item 32 (Battles and Campaign) he was credited with five campaigns, to include the Rome-Arno, the Southern France, the Rhineland, the Ardennes (sic Ardennes-Alsace) and the Central Europe.  In Item 33 (Decorations and Citations) he was credited with award of the Good Conduct Medal, the EAME Campaign Medal with 5 bronze stars (sic 5 bronze service stars (BSS)), 1 Bronze Arrowhead (denoting a combat parachute jump, a combat glider landing or an amphibious assault landing) and the Victory Medal (WWII Victory Medal).  

8.  In item 34 (Wounds Received in Action) the entry “None” is made.  

9.  Other evidence of record includes an extract of the Office of The Surgeon General medical records showing his hospitalization during WWII.  Only one record is available for the applicant which shows that he received medical treatment and hospitalization for acute tonsillitis in October 1945.  No other medical records are available, nor provided by the applicant.  

10.  An extract of his final pay record shows that he was receiving combat infantry pay and parachute pay.  Neither of these pays would have been given if he was not entitled to wear the Parachute Badge and the CIB.

11.  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, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.

12.  War Department Circular 269-1943 established the CIB and the Expert Infantryman Badge to recognize and provide an incentive to infantrymen.  The Expert Infantryman Badge was to be awarded for attainment of certain proficiency standards or by satisfactory performance of duty in action against the enemy.  The CIB was awarded for exemplary conduct in action against the enemy.  War Department Circular 186-1944 further provided that the CIB was to be awarded only to infantrymen serving with infantry units of brigade, regimental or smaller size.  Additionally, World War II holders of the CIB received a monthly pay supplement known as combat infantry pay and holders of the Expert Infantryman Badge were entitled to expert infantry pay.  Therefore, soldiers had economic as well as intangible reasons to ensure that their records were correct. Thus, pay records are frequently the best available source to verify entitlement to this award.  The Awards Branch, Total Army Personnel Command, has advised in similar cases that, during World War II, the CIB was normally awarded only to enlisted individuals who served in the following positions:

    a.  Light machine gunner (604)
    b.  Heavy machine gunner (605)
    c.  Platoon sergeant (651)
    d.  Squad leader (653)
    e.  Rifleman (745)
     f.  Automatic rifleman (746)
    g.  Heavy weapons NCO (812)
    h.  Gun crewman (864)

13.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 also provides, in pertinent part, that the Bronze Star Medal is awarded for heroism and for meritorious achievement or service in military operations against an armed enemy.  The Bronze Star Medal is authorized for each individual who was cited in orders or awarded a certificate for exemplary conduct in ground combat between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945 or whose achievement or service, during that period, was confirmed by documents executed prior to 1 July 1947.  An award of the CIB or the Combat Medical Badge is considered to be a citation in orders.  This means, in effect, that the Bronze Star Medal is to be awarded to individuals who were authorized either badge for service during World War II.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant has failed to provide sufficient proof of entitlement to award of the Purple Heart.  There are no medical records, eyewitness statements or other such documents which would provide sufficient proof that he was wounded shortly after Christmas 1944, as the result of enemy action and that he received medical treatment for these wounds.  The document he received from his former regimental commander does not provide sufficient proof that he was wounded in combat operations during WWII.  

2.  Further, his separation documents fail to substantiate either combat wounds or the award of the Purple Heart.

3.  However, the records and documents with his application and in his official file substantiate his entitlement to the CIB and the Parachute Badge.  However, neither of these badges are shown on his separation document, the WD AGO Form 53-55.  

4.  Further, since he is entitled to wear the CIB as the result of his service during WWII, he also is entitled to award of the Bronze Star Medal.  

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

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing that the individual concerned is entitled to wear the Bronze Star Medal, the CIB and the Parachute Badge.  

2.  That upon completion of the above action, that an appropriate document be issued to correct his WD AGO Form 53-55 to show entitlement to these awards.  

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

BOARD VOTE:  

__jns___  __mdm___  __mw___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		    __John N. Slone_____
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999032426	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20000524	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT In PART	
REVIEW AUTHORITY	DASA	
ISSUES         1.	107.00	
2.	110.00	
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.