PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:      

	BOARD DATE:           19 December 2002                 
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2002075961

	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. Edmund P. Mercanti		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Raymond V. O'Connor, Jr.		Chairperson	
	Mr. Stanley Kelley		Member	
	Mr. Harry B. Oberg		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 separation document be corrected to add the Purple Heart (PH), the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB), and the Bronze Star Medal (BSM).

3.  The applicant states that he was seriously wounded in action, which warrants the PH.  His whole unit was awarded the CIB after a battle fought on the Solomon Islands in 1944.  He was awarded the BSM on 29 June 1949.

4.  In support of his request the applicant submits the telegram sent to his family informing them that he had been seriously wounded in Manila on 18 February 1945.

5.  The applicant’s military records could not be located and are presumed to have been destroyed in the fire at the records repository at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1973.  The following information was taken from the applicant’s separation document which he, himself, provided.

6.  The applicant was inducted and entered on active duty on 15 March 1943.  He was shipped to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater of operations on 8 September 1943, served in the Northern Solomon's and Luzon campaigns, and was promoted to private first class.  He returned to the United States on 26 April 1945.

7.  He was honorably released from active duty on 25 August 1945.  His separation document shows that he was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Service Medal with 1 bronze service star, and the Combat Infantryman (Badge).  However, the word “Badge” was omitted from the CIB.  

8.  Item 34, Wounds, on the applicant’s separation document, shows that he was wounded on 18 February 1945 in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater of operations.

9.  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).  Searches of these files show that the applicant was hospitalized on 18 February 1945 for leukemia and for the treatment of the damage caused by a rifle bullet to his shoulder.

10.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides the guidance for Army awards and decorations.  In this regulation several awards and decorations are provided specifically for service during WWII which were enacted subsequent to the 

demobilization of WWII.  These WWII specific provisions include award of the BSM 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 where such achievement or service, during the period, was confirmed by documents executed prior to 1 July 1947.  An award of the CIB is considered to be a citation in orders.  This means, in effect, that the BSM’s were awarded to individuals who were authorized the CIB for service during WWII.

11.  Another WWII specific award is the WWII Victory Medal which is awarded for service between 7 December 1941 and 31 December 1946, both dates inclusive.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  It is evident that the applicant was wounded in action during WWII.  As such, he is entitled to the PH.

2.  While the applicant’s separation document shows that he was awarded the CIB, the word “Badge” was omitted.  It would be proper to correct that omission by adding the word "Badge.”

3.  Since the applicant had been awarded the CIB, he was entitled to the BSM.  Since the applicant states that he has already been given that award, the only correction necessary is to add that award to his separation document, as he requested.

4.  In addition, the applicant is entitled to the WWII Victory Medal.

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 by:

	a.  awarding to the individual concerned the WWII Victory Medal;

	b.  awarding to him the PH; 

	c.  awarding to him the BSM;

	d.  adding these awards to his separation document; and

	e.  correcting his separation document by adding the word “Badge” to Combat Infantryman in item 31.

BOARD VOTE:  

____hbo   ____sk__  ___rvo___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		_________Raymond V. O'Connor, Jr.__
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2002075961	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20021219	
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.	107.00	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.