PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:     

	BOARD DATE:           26 March 2002                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2001063253

	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. Walter Avery, Jr.		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. George D. Paxson		Chairperson	
	Ms. Deborah S. Jacobs		Member	
	Mr. Ronald E. Blakely		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 and the Bronze Star Medal.

3.  The applicant states that he was wounded on the left hand, chin and right foot in Okinawa in May or June 1945.  He was hospitalized in Okinawa and awarded the Purple Heart.

4.  The applicant’s military records were lost or destroyed in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center.  Information herein is based upon documents furnished by the applicant and from information obtained from alternate sources.

5.  His WD AGO 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation, Honorable Discharge) shows that he was inducted on 20 July 1944, served in the Asiatic Pacific Theater of Operations from 20 January 1945 to 14 April 1946, and was awarded the combat infantryman badge (CIB).  He was honorably separated at demobilization on 10 July 1946, in the rank of sergeant.

6.  His DD Form 214 (Report of Separation From the Armed Forces of the United States) shows the he enlisted in the Regular Army on 31 December 1950 and was honorably separated on 2 December 1953 in the rank of sergeant.

7.  Block 34 (wounds received in action) of the WD AGO Form 53-55 contains the entry “None.”

8.  The military records contain an extract prepared from the hospital admission cards created by the Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army.  This report identifies the applicant by his service number; it reflects that on 26 May 1945 he was admitted to a military hospital, as a battle casualty.  It reflects that artillery shell fragments wounded his hand.

9.  Subsequent to the cessation of hostilities during WWII, the regulation governing the award of the Bronze Star Medal was changed, in part, to provide for the award of this decoration to those individuals who had been awarded the CIB or the Combat Medical Badge for meritorious achievement in ground combat against the armed enemy between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945.

10.  AR 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.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The evidence of record confirms the applicant was wounded as a result of hostile action in WWII and as such is entitled to an award of the Purple Heart.  His records should be corrected accordingly.

2.  The applicant is also entitled to the Bronze Star Medal.

3.  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 by showing that the individual concerned was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star Medal.

BOARD VOTE:  

____gdp_  ___rdb__  ___dsj___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		_________George D. Paxson_______
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2001063253	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20020326	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR . . . . .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	107	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.