MEMORANDUM OF CONSIDERATION

	IN THE CASE OF:	 

	BOARD DATE:            1 September 1999                 
	DOCKET NUMBER:	AR1999014876 
		
	I certify that hereinafter is recorded the record of consideration of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in the case of the above-named individual.

	Mr. Loren G. Harrell		Director	
	Mr. W. W. Osborn, Jr.		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Stanley Kelley		Chairperson	
	Mr. James E. Anderholm		Member	
	Mr. Kenneth L. Wright		Member	

	The Board, established pursuant to authority contained in 10 U.S.C. 1552, convened at the call of the Chairperson on the above date.  In accordance with Army Regulation 15-185, the application and the available military records pertinent to the corrective action requested were reviewed to determine whether to authorize a formal hearing, recommend that the records be corrected without a formal hearing, or to deny the application without a formal hearing if it is determined that insufficient relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the existence of probable material error or injustice.

	The applicant requests correction of military records as stated in the application to the Board and as restated herein.

	The Board considered the following evidence:

	Exhibit A - Application for correction of military 
                       records
	Exhibit B - Military Personnel Records (including
	            advisory opinion, if any)

APPLICANT REQUESTS:  Reconsideration of his previous application to correct his records by awarding him the Purple Heart.  (Note his request to change his service number on his discharge certificate can be accomplished administratively.

APPLICANT STATES:  That he “took a hit” in St. Lo, France on 3 August 1944 and was hospitalized for 6 months.

NEW EVIDENCE OR INFORMATION:  The applicant’s case is reopened in accordance with the Army Board for Correction of Military Records Reconsideration Project (ABCMR-RP) criteria.  The applicant's military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  Information herein was obtained from reconstructed personnel records.
His previous requests have been administratively closed,  however his fire damaged records are sufficiently complete to support a Board review of his request.

The applicant served as a rifleman in the European Theater of operations from 
1 July 1944.  He was hospitalized in September 1944 with symptoms of irritability, compulsions and visual and auditory hallucinations.  He was evacuated to the United Kingdom and then to the United States as a psychiatric patient and ultimately discharged on a certificate of disability on 19 February 1945.

There is no medical record to show that the applicant was wounded in action or as the result of enemy action.  He described no such incident during his hospitalization.

A health record research project, commonly referred to as the "SGO Files", involved transposing the hospital admission card data from the periods of World War II and the Korean conflict onto magnetic tape.  In 1988 the National Research Council made these tape files available to the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC).  The availability of the information to the NPRC received considerable publicity by the various veterans service organizations.  It was widely believed that these tapes would become a valuable substitute for the records lost in the NPRC fire of 1973.  The available records from these files shows on the above mentioned hospitalization.  Searches of these files fail to show that the applicant was wounded or injured as a result of enemy action.

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.

DISCUSSION:  Considering all the evidence, allegations, and information presented by the applicant, together with the evidence of record, applicable law and regulations, it is concluded:

1.  There is no available evidence to show that the applicant was wounded in action or as the result of enemy action.  He does not meet the regulatory criteria for award of the Purple Heart.  

2. In order to justify correction of a military record the applicant must show to the satisfaction of the Board, or it must otherwise satisfactorily appear, that the record is in error or unjust.  The applicant has failed to submit evidence that would satisfy the aforementioned requirement

3.  In view of the foregoing, there is no basis for granting the applicant's request.

DETERMINATION:  The applicant has failed to submit sufficient relevant evidence to demonstrate the existence of probable error or injustice.

NOTE:  The Army Review Boards Agency, Support Division, St. Louis will be requested to administratively correct the applicant’s serial number on his discharge certificate (WD AGO Form 53-55.)

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___SK__   ___JEA__  ___KLW_  DENY APPLICATION

						Loren G. Harrell
						Director

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999014876	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	19990901	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION		
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES        1.	107.00	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.