2.  The applicant requests award of the Purple Heart.  (Note:  His separation report already reflects entitlement to the Korean Service Medal and Army Occupation Medal and as such will not be addressed by the Board.)

3.  Although the applicants service personnel and service medical records were apparently lost or destroyed as a result of the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis information reconstructed from alternative sources indicates he served on active duty between September 1950 and June 1953 and was in Korea for approximately 14 months.  While in Korea the applicant was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge.

4.  The applicant was released from active duty on 22 June 1953.  Item 29 (wounds received as a result of hostile action) on his DD Form 214, issued at the time of his discharge, indicates he was wounded on 9 June 1951 while in Korea.

5.  The applicant’s VA records confirm a well healed shrapnel wound on the applicant’s left hand.

6.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart is awarded for wounds 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 indicate the applicant was wounded on 9 June 1951 as a result of hostile action while in Korea although there is no indication he was ever awarded the Purple Heart.

2.  In view of the foregoing, it would be appropriate to correct the applicant’s records as recommended below.


RECOMMENDATION:

That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by awarding the individual concerned the Purple Heart for wounds sustained as a result of hostile actions on 9 June 1951 while in Korea.

BOARD VOTE:  

                       GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

                       GRANT FORMAL HEARING

                       DENY APPLICATION




		                           
		        CHAIRPERSON