PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:     

	BOARD DATE:           4 February 2003                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2002074662

	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. Walter Avery, Jr.		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Melvin H. Meyer		Chairperson	
	Mr. Curtis L. Greenway		Member	
	Mr. Ronald J. Weaver		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, who is the sister of the former service member (FSM), requests that he be awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) and the Bronze Star Medal (BSM).

3.  The applicant states that the FSM was fatally injured in battle and was awarded the Silver Star posthumously.  He was a sergeant in the infantry and should be eligible for the CIB and the BSM.

4.  In support of her request, the applicant submits a copy of the general orders awarding the FSM the Silver Star, his Report of Death, a news article describing the action that resulted in him being award the Silver Star and a copy of the Authorization for Issuance of Awards (DA Form 1577), reflecting the awards issued in 2000 and 2002 at the request of the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC).

5.  The FSM’s military records were lost or destroyed in the 1973 fire at the NPRC.  Information herein is derived from the documents provided by the applicant.

6.  The FSM was born on 11 November 1915 and entered active duty on 11 March 1943.  He was promoted to sergeant and during his service in the European Theater of Operations was assigned to an armored infantry company in the 1st Armored Division.  He was wounded in action in Italy on 2 September 1944, and died as a result of those wounds on 4 September 1944.

7.  His awards as shown on DA Form 1577, include the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 1 Bronze Service Star, the World War II Victory Medal and the World War II Honorable Service Lapel Button.  Based on the limited documents available, it appears that the FSM is entitled to all of the foregoing awards.  

8.  General Orders Number 88, Headquarters First Armored Division, dated 20 October 1944, awarded the FSM the Silver Star posthumously.  These orders indicate that the FSM was an infantry sergeant at the time he was seriously wounded.  The FSM’s Report of Death also shows his arm or service as infantry and, the local newspaper clipping recounting his exploits in winning the Silver Star, indicates that at the time he was wounded, he was serving in an armored infantry company.

9.  A staff member of the Board contacted the sister of the FSM, to clarify if the Board had a proper applicant.  The Report of Death indicated the FSM had a wife.  The sister stated the FSM's wife remarried and has died.  She also stated that she had just received the medals for her brother in a recent ceremony and was quite impressed with them.  In fact, the medals are nicer than the ones she received for her husband.

10.  Army Regulation 600-8-22, Military Awards, provides, in pertinent part, that to be eligible for the CIB, an individual must be an infantryman with an infantry military occupational specialty and must perform primary duty as an infantryman, as a member of an infantry unit of brigade or smaller size, during any period in which that unit was engaged in ground combat.  Battle participation credit alone is not sufficient.

11.  Subsequent to the cessation of hostilities during World War II, the regulation governing the award of the BSM was changed, in part, to provide for the award of this decoration to those individuals who had been awarded the CIB for meritorious achievement in ground combat against the armed enemy between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Since separation documents are not issued in death cases and the FSM records are not available, it is not possible to establish precisely whether the FSM held an infantry military occupational specialty.  However, there is no question that he was involved in direct combat with the enemy and, as pointed out in the general orders awarding him the Silver Star, he was an infantry sergeant doing what infantry soldiers do in wartime, albeit, to a degree beyond that that expected of most.  It would appear therefore, based on the circumstantial information available, that the FSM was an infantry sergeant performing infantry duties in a hostile environment and thereby met the standards required for award of the CIB.

2.  Furthermore, since the FSM is entitled to the CIB, he is also entitled to the BSM based on the revised criteria for awarding that medal to World War II holders of the CIB.  Unfortunately, because of the loss of the FSM’s records, it can not  be determined if he is entitled to any awards other than those mentioned above and those already issued via the DA Form 1577.

3.  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 be corrected by awarding the individual concerned the CIB and the BSM (based on award of the CIB) in recognition of his service during World War II and that his records be corrected accordingly.

BOARD VOTE:  

___mhm_  ____rjw__  ____clg _  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		__________Melvin H. Meyer_________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2002074662	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20020204	
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.