APPLICANT REQUESTS:  Correction of his military records to reflect award of the Purple Heart and Combat Infantryman Badge.  He states he was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge and Purple Heart for minor wounds and injuries received from enemy fire while assigned to the 179th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division while in Korea.

PURPOSE:  To determine whether the application was submitted within the time limit established by law, and if not, whether it is in the interest of justice to excuse the failure to timely file.

EVIDENCE OF RECORDS:  The applicant’s military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.  Information herein was reconstructed from documents provided by the applicant and information contained in he VA files.

He was called to active duty with his National Guard unit, Headquarters Company, 45th Infantry Division on 22 August 1950 and served 15 months of overseas service in Japan and Korea.  While his branch is listed as infantry it is unclear what duties he performed while in Korea.  His separation report notes that a comparable civilian occupation would have been as a “magazine keeper.”

His service medical records indicate the applicant “developed a throat infection, followed by an infection of the glands...in 1951, in Japan....In 1952, he again developed an enlargement of the glands...and was hospitalized four days in Korea.”

His separation physical examination, conducted on 17 June 1952 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma is silent regarding any wounds or injuries sustained as a result of hostile actions.  On 29 June 1952 he was released from active duty.  His DD Form 214, which he authenticated does not reflect award of the Combat Infantryman Badge or the Purple Heart and item 29 (wounds received as a result of action with enemy forces) reflects “NONE.”
Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides 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.  There is no evidence, and the applicant has not provided any, which confirms he sustained any wounds or injuries as a result of hostile actions while in Korea.

There are basically three requirements for award of the Combat Infantryman Badge.  The soldier must be an infantryman, assigned to an infantry unit of regimental or smaller size during such time as the unit is engaged in active ground combat, and must have actively participated in such ground combat.  While the applicant may have been an infantryman his records indicate he was assigned to the headquarters element of an infantry division.  There is no evidence he was assigned to the 179th Infantry Regiment.

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.  Failure to file within 3 years may be excused by a correction board if it finds it would be in the interest of justice to do so.

DISCUSSION:  The alleged error or injustice was, or with reasonable diligence should have been discovered on 29 June 1952, the date of discharge.  The time for the applicant to file a request for correction of any error or injustice expired on 29 June 1955.

The application is dated 27 June 1994 and the applicant has not explained or otherwise satisfactorily demonstrated by competent evidence that it would be in the interest of justice to excuse the failure to apply within the time allotted.

DETERMINATION:  The subject application was not submitted within the time required.  The applicant has not presented and the records do not contain sufficient justification to conclude that it would be in the interest of justice to grant the relief requested or to excuse the failure to file within the time prescribed by law.

BOARD VOTE:

                      EXCUSE FAILURE TO TIMELY FILE

                      GRANT FORMAL HEARING

                      CONCUR WITH DETERMINATION




		Karl F. Schneider
		Acting Director