PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:      

	BOARD DATE:           11 MARCH 2003                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2002075458

	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. Kenneth H. Aucock		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Samuel A. Crumpler		Chairperson	
	Mr. Ted S. Kanamine		Member	
	Ms. Shirley L. Powell		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 his record be corrected to show completion of parachute training and award of the Parachutist Badge, and also to show that he was a member of the 11th Airborne Division from February 1943 to January 1946. 

3.  The applicant states that he underwent paratrooper training in New Guinea in 1944, and was awarded wings and $50 a month for parachute duty.  His unit, the 11th Airborne Division, was the first unit sent to Japan prior to the actual signing ending hostilities.  He returned to the United States from Japan in December 1945.  The applicant recounts his military career in an enclosure to his application. 

4.  The applicant's military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  The only information available is the applicant’s enlisted record and report of separation.

5.  The applicant’s WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation) shows that he entered on active duty on 22 February 1943, that his military occupational specialty was that of a surgical technician, and that he departed the United States for the Pacific Theater of Operations on 5 May 1944, arriving on 1 June 1944.  He returned to the United States on 31 December 1945 and was discharged from the Army on 10 January 1946.  He participated in three campaigns during the war and was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with three bronze service stars, the World War II Victory Ribbon, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Theater Campaign Medal, the Philippine Liberation Medal with one bronze service star, the Distinguished Unit Badge, the Honorable Service Lapel Button, and the Glider Badge.  Unit organization shown on his separation form is the Medical Detachment, 674th Glider Field Artillery Battalion.    
6.  The Unit Citation and Campaign Participation Register, DA Pamphlet 672-1, shows that the 674th Glider Field Artillery Battalion, an organization of the        11th Airborne Division, participated in three campaigns during World War II, was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation for its actions during the period             31 January to 5 February 1945, participated in an assault landing on 31 January 1945, and was awarded the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation for its actions during the period 17 October 1944 through 4 July 1945.  That organization served as an occupation force in Okinawa and in Japan subsequent to the end of hostilities.

7.  The 11th Airborne Division web page on the internet shows that the opening of the 11th Airborne Division Headquarters was at Camp Mackall, North Carolina in February 1943, lists the units of the 11th, and shows that the 674th Glider Field Artillery Battalion was assigned to the 11th throughout its active service with the Army Airborne Command.  The 11th trained at Camp Polk, Louisiana and in April 1944 went to Camp Stoneman, California, its port of embarkation, from where it embarked for the South Pacific, arriving in New Guinea in the summer of 1944.  The division commander reopened jump school, and almost 75 percent of the entire division were qualified to jump.  The division web page shows it participated in an assault landing at Nasugbu in the Philippine Islands on           31 January 1945.  It also recounts all the division activities during the war, paralleling much of the information contained in the applicant’s request.  The information in that web page also parallels information contained in the Center for Military History (CMH) concerning the combat chronicles of the 11th Airborne Division.  The information in the CMH also shows that in August 1945 the division was transported by air to Honshu, Japan, via Okinawa, for occupation duty.           
8.  Another internet web page lists the combat units of the 11th Airborne Division, of which the 674th Glider Field Artillery Battalion was one.  

9.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 prescribes Army policy, criteria, and administrative instructions concerning individual military awards.  It prescribes award of the Parachutist Badge to individuals who have satisfactorily completed the prescribed proficiency tests while assigned or attached to an airborne unit or the Airborne Department of the Infantry School, or have participated in at least one combat parachute jump.

10.  That regulation provides for the award of the Army of Occupation Medal for service for 30 consecutive days while assigned to the Army of Occupation of Japan between 3 September 1945 and 27 April 1952. 

11.  The arrowhead is a bronze replica of an Indian arrowhead and denotes participation in a combat parachute jump, or amphibious assault landing while assigned as a member of an organized force carrying out an assigned tactical mission.  It is worn on the service and suspension ribbons of the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant did serve with the 11th Airborne Division while a member of the  674th Glider Field Artillery Battalion, and although there is no requirement to show his divisional organization on his WD AGO Form 53-55, consideration of the applicant’s request is not unreasonable.  In consideration of his service to the country, it would be reasonable to grant his request to show that he was assigned to the 11th during the period he cites. 

2.  There is no evidence, and the applicant has not provided any, to show that he underwent parachute training during the war.  He is not entitled to award of the Parachutist Badge. 

3.  The applicant served with the 674th on 31 January 1945 and more than likely participated in the assault landing at Nasugbu in the Philippine Islands on that date.  He is entitled to award of the arrowhead device to the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal.   

4.  The applicant served with the 674th during the period for which it was awarded the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation.  He is entitled to that award.

5.  There is no evidence that the applicant served in Okinawa or Japan subsequent to the end of the war; however, his narration that he was stationed there for a short period of time before departing for the United States rings true.  In this instance, any doubt should be resolved in his favor.  Consequently, he is entitled to award of the Army of Occupation Medal with Japan clasp.

6.  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 applicant served with the 11th Airborne Division from February 1943 through December 1945; and that he was awarded the arrowhead device to the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, and the Army of Occupation Medal with Japan clasp. 

BOARD VOTE:  

__SAC__  __TSK  __  __SLP __  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		___Samuel A. Crumpler___
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2002075458	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20030311	
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.	100.07	
2.	107.00	
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.