PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:       

	BOARD DATE:            21 March 2002
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2001063165

	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. Jessie B. Strickland		Analyst	

The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. John N. Slone		Chairperson	
	Ms. Linda D. Simmons		Member	
	Mr. John T. Meixell		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 Purple Heart.

3.  The applicant states, in effect, that he entered the service in October 1944 in good health, acceptable for military combat.  In June 1945, on the Island of Leyte in the Philippines, after a particular battle, he was informed by a fellow soldier in the next foxhole, that he had blood coming out of his left ear.  The medics immediately picked him up and took him to an airstrip, where he was flown back to a hospital.  The ear doctor told him that his eardrum was shattered, that it was infected (Otitis Media), and that the root cause was due to his close proximity to small shells, mortar fire and hand grenade blasts.  He further states that he was hospitalized for 6 months for a severe concussion and loss of hearing.  He was subsequently discharged from complications resulting from the injury but never received the Purple Heart.  In support of his application he provides a copy of a letter from the battalion surgeon at the time, a copy of a clinical record and a copy of his Certificate of Disability.  

4.  The applicant’s military records were destroyed in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri, which destroyed millions of service records.  However, information obtained from reconstructed records show that he was inducted in Chicago, Illinois on 17 October 1944.  He completed his training as a rifleman and departed for the Southwest Pacific Theater of Operations (SWPTO) on 12 March 1945 and was assigned to Company I, 1st Regiment, 3d Battalion, 6th Infantry Division.  He was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) on 15 June 1945.

5.  On 23 June 1945, while serving in the rank of private first class, he was evacuated by air and treated at the battalion aid station for Otitis Media, acute, moderate, severe.  The battalion surgeon (a captain) directed that the applicant be evacuated to the 249th General Hospital with a concussion puncture of the left ear with mild Otitis Media.  It appears that the applicant was returned to the aid station and the battalion surgeon authored a handwritten letter on the same day requesting that the applicant be evacuated someplace where he would not be exposed to loud noises and be reclassified.  He also expressed his dissatisfaction that patients/soldiers were being returned to their units against the recommendations of the doctors in the field.  

6.  The applicant was returned to the hospital and was admitted to the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Clinic with a perforation of his left ear-drum.  His medical records from that point forward indicate that the cause of his injury/illness was undetermined.  He was subsequently evacuated to the 126th General Hospital, then to Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco, California and then to Mayo General Hospital in Galesburg, Illinois.  He remained there until he was honorably discharged on 6 October 1945 and was issued a Certificate of Disability. 
7.  A review of the available clinical records indicates that the applicant had a history of ear problems when he was 16 years of age and that the cause of his problem was undetermined.  His Certificate of Disability indicates that the cause of his disability was undetermined, that it existed prior to service (EPTS) and that he was incapacitated because of deafness and hazard of exacerbation of infection.  His injury was aggravated by active service and it was incurred in the line of duty.  It also indicates that his service record showed participation in action or in battles, wounds or other injuries received in service.  The battle casualty report also listed the applicant’s injury as a disease and EPTS.

8.  At the time of his discharge, his report of separation (WD AGO Form 53-55) reflected that he was awarded the CIB, the Asiatic Pacific Ribbon and the Philippine Liberation Ribbon.  He was subsequently awarded the Bronze Star Medal (BSM), the American Campaign Medal, the World War II (WWII) Victory Medal and the Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII.  However, there is no indication that they were ever added to his WD AGO Form 53-55.

9.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound/injury sustained as a result of hostile action.  Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify that the wound/injury was a result of hostile action, that the wound/injury must have required treatment by a medical officer, and that the medical treatment was made a matter of official record.

10.  A review of the history of the 6th Infantry Division during WWII indicates that it holds the unchallenged record for consecutive days of continuous combat in the Pacific Theater with 219 days of continuous combat in the Philippine Islands. At the end of WWII, the division’s men were the most heavily engaged troops in the United States Army with a total of 306 days of combat.  Casualties for the division totaled 1,174 dead, 3,876 wounded and 9 missing.  Japanese casualties fighting the division totaled 23,000 dead and 1,700 captured.  The 3d Battalion was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation (now known as the Presidential Unit Citation) for the period of 23 to 29 June 1944 by General Order 113-46.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  While the majority of the available records show that the cause of the applicant’s injury was undetermined and that his condition existed prior to his service, the letter from the battalion surgeon clearly states that he had a concussion injury and that his ear-drum was punctured.  Notwithstanding that he may have had a history of ear problems prior to entering the service, he would not have been accepted for induction with a perforated ear-drum. 

2.  It is also reasonable to presume, under the circumstances, that the perforation of the applicant’s ear-drum was the resultant cause of being exposed to loud noises/blast from weapons fire during combat.  The applicant was evacuated and treated for the injury and subsequently discharged because of the injury.  

3.  While the available records do not provide specific information regarding his injury, the Board finds that the letter from the battalion surgeon provides sufficient information to indicate that the applicant’s injury was the result of action with the enemy and that he should have been awarded a Purple Heart for his injury on 23 June 1945, while serving in the rank of private first class.   

4.  The applicant is also entitled to have his awards of the BSM, the American Campaign Medal, the WWII Victory Medal and the Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII entered on his records. 

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

RECOMMENDATION:  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected:

a.  by awarding the individual concerned the Purple Heart for injuries received on 23 June 1944, while serving as a private first class.

	b.  by correcting his records to show awards of the Purple Heart, the BSM, the American Campaign Medal, the WWII Victory Medal and the Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII.

BOARD VOTE:  

___jm___  ____lds _  __js  ____  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		_____John N. Slone______
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2001063165	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	2002/03/21	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT PLUS	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.  61	107.0015/ph	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.