IN THE CASE OF: BOARD DATE: 8 April 2019 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20170010916 BOARD VOTE: Mbr 1 Mbr 2 Mbr 3 :X :X :X GRANT FULL RELIEF : : : GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF : : : GRANT FORMAL HEARING : : : DENY APPLICATION 2 Enclosures 1. Board Determination/Recommendation 2. Evidence and Consideration IN THE CASE OF: BOARD DATE: 8 April 2019 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20170010916 APPLICANT'S REQUEST AND STATEMENT: 1. The applicant requests award of the Purple Heart. 2. The applicant states he was discharged from the Army at the Brooke Convalescent Hospital, Fort Sam Houston, TX, due to disability for "Frozen Feet." He was awarded a disability pension for service connection for this condition per the attached letter from the Veterans Administration (now known as the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)), dated 18 July 1945. THE BOARD CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING EVIDENCE: 1. DD Form 149 (Application for Correction of Military Record under the Provisions of Title 10, U.S. Code, Section 1552) with supporting document(s): * Changes Number (illegible) to Army Regulation 600-45 (Personnel Decorations), dated 22 September 1943 * Letter, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-1, Pentagon, dated 26 April 1945, subject: Award of Purple Heart in Cases of Trench Foot * WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation – Honorable Discharge) * Honorable Discharge Certificate, dated 9 July 1945 * VA Form P80b (Area Office Award of Disability Pension), VA Area Office Number 8, Dallas, TX, dated 18 July 1945 2. Evidence from the applicant's service record and Department of the Army and Department of Defense records and systems: * Changes Number 4, Army Regulation 600-45, dated 22 September 1943 * European Theater of Operations U.S. Army Medical Department Form 319 (Disposition Board Proceedings Transfer of Patient to Zone of Interior), dated 28 February 1945 * U.S. Army Medical Department Form 55F (Progress Notes), covering the period 1 April 1945 through 27 June 1945 * WD AGO Form 40 (Certificate of Disability for Discharge), dated 9 July 1945 * Letter, National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), St. Louis, MO, dated 15 September 2017 REFERENCES: 1. Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1552(b), provides that applications for correction of military records must be filed within 3 years after discovery of the alleged error or injustice. This provision of law also allows the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to excuse an applicant's failure to timely file within the 3-year statute of limitations if the ABCMR determines it would be in the interest of justice to do so. 2. Army Regulation 600-45 (Personnel Decorations), in effect at the time, prescribed the Army's awards policy. It provided for award of the Purple Heart to members who were wounded in action against an enemy of the United States, or as direct result of an act of such enemy, provided the wound necessitated treatment by a medical officer. For the purpose of awarding the Purple Heart, a wound was defined as an injury to any part of the body from an outside force, element, or agent sustained as the result of a hostile act of the enemy or while in action in the face of the enemy. In connection with this definition of "wound", the word "element" referred to weather. An "element" pertains to weather and the award of this decoration to personnel who were severely frostbitten while actually engaged in combat is authorized. 3. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards), currently in effect, prescribes Army policy, criteria, and administrative instructions concerning individual and unit military awards. The Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained in action against an enemy or as a result of hostile action. Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment, not merely examination, by a medical officer, and the medical treatment must have been documented in the service member's medical and/or health record. Examples of injuries or wounds which clearly do not justify award of the Purple Heart include frostbite (excluding severe frostbite requiring hospitalization from 7 December 1941 to 22 August 1951). DISCUSSION: 1. While the applicant did not file within the time frame provided in the statute of limitations, the ABCMR has elected to conduct a substantive review of this case and, only to the extent relief, if any, is granted, has determined it is in the interest of justice to excuse the applicant's failure to timely file. In all other respects, there are insufficient bases to waive the statute of limitations for timely filing. 2. The applicant was inducted into the Army of the United States on 5 June 1944. 3. His complete military personnel and medical records are not available for review. A letter from the NPRC, dated 15 September 2017, stated that if the applicant's Official Military Personnel File was at the NPRC on 12 July 1973, it would have been in the area that suffered the most damage in the fire on that date and may have been destroyed. The NPRC located a file created during the reconstruction attempts for the applicant. This case is being considered using reconstructed records that primarily consist of the applicant's separation documents; information from the disposition of board proceedings from the European Theater of Operations U.S. Army Medical Department in Germany, dated 28 February 1945; and the supporting documents provided by the applicant. 4. His records show he arrived in the European-African-Middle Eastern (EAME) Theater of Operations on 19 December 1944. 5. The European Theater of Operations U.S. Army Medical Department Form 319, dated 28 February 1945, shows the board carefully examined him and the clinical records pertaining to his case and found he was unfit for further duty in the U.S. Army European Theater of Operations because of "frost bite [sic], ground type, feet, bilateral, severe, due to exposure to snow and cold during the months of January and February 1945, under combat conditions in Germany" effective 30 January 1945. The board recommended his transfer to the Zone of the Interior for further hospitalization and treatment, and his placement in classification IIE (Suitable for Air Evacuation). 6. He departed the EAME Theater of Operations on 13 March 1945 and arrived in the United States on 26 March 1945. 7. The U.S. Army Medical Department Form 55F, covering the period 1 April 1945 through 27 June 1945, shows he was admitted to Brooke General and Convalescent Hospital, Fort Sam Houston, TX, on 1 April 1945. 8. The WD AGO Form 40, dated 9 July 1945, shows he was found unfit for military service because of frostbite of his feet effective 30 January 1945. The board of medical officers recommended his discharge. The discharge authority approved his discharge effective 9 July 1945. 9. He was honorably discharged by reason of disability on 9 July 1945. He completed 9 months and 20 days of continental service and 3 months and 15 days of foreign service during this period. His WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he was awarded and/or authorized the Army Good Conduct Medal and EAME Service Medal. 10. On 18 July 1945, the VA Area Office Number 8 awarded him a service-connected disability pension effective 9 July 1945 on a temporary basis on account of disability resulting from bilateral frozen feet held to have been incurred or aggravated during his war service and subject to change upon medical examination at a future date. 11. Soldiers hospitalized for severe frostbite incurred in combat during the period 7 December 1941 to 22 August 1951 were authorized award of the Purple Heart. BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION: The Board determined the evidence presented is sufficient to warrant a recommendation for relief. As a result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by awarding him the Purple Heart for injuries incurred on 28 February 1945 and adding this award to his WD AGO Form 53-55. I certify that herein is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in this case. //NOTHING FOLLOWS// ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20160005706 2 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20170010916 4 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Enclosure 2