PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:      

	BOARD DATE:           3 July 2003                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2002076946

	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. Gerald E. Vandenberg 		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Raymond V. O'Connor, Jr.		Chairperson	
	Ms. Kathleen A. Newman		Member	
	Mr. Patrick H. McGann, Jr.		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, in effect, reconsideration of his earlier appeal to correct his military records by awarding him the Presidential Unit Citation, the Meritorious Unit Commendation, and the Purple Heart.

3.  He states, in effect, that a list of unit awards that he obtained from a 30th Infantry Division web page demonstrates that he is entitled to these awards.  In a telephone conversation with a member of the Board's staff, the applicant stated that his disabling eye condition started with a concussion sustained as the result of enemy action.  He was treated at the 105th Medical Battalion, but the records of unit were destroyed.  He thought that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) might have medical records that would verify his entitlement to the Purple Heart.

4.  Incorporated herein by reference are military records that were summarized in a memorandum prepared to reflect the Board's previous consideration of the case (AR2001059663) on 10 October 2001.  The applicant’s submission is new evidence that requires Board consideration.

5.  In a 12 March 2001 letter to a Member of Congress, the applicant listed his tenure with C Company 120th Infantry, 30th Infantry Division as commencing in Great Britain on 22 May 1944 and ending in Germany on 14 February 1945.  

6.  The applicant's WD AGO 53-55 (Report of Separation – Honorable Discharge) shows that he departed the United States on 26 July 1944 and arrived in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) on an unknown date.  It also shows he departed the ETO on an unknown date and arrived in the United States on 1 February 1945.  

7.  An attempt to review the historical files of the 105th Medical Battalion at the National Achieves, College Park, Maryland, failed to find any files for this unit.  Subsequently, a search of the health record research project files, commonly referred to as the "SGO Files", was made.  These records 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).  This information is a valuable substitute for the records lost in the NPRC fire of 1973.  The SGO files found that the applicant was treated for "choroidoretinitus" [an inflammation inside the eye affecting the uvea].  No causative agent was found, but the condition was not due to trauma.

8.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that the Presidential Unit Citation (known as the Distinguished Unit Citation until 3 November 1966) is awarded for extraordinary heroism in action.  A unit must display such gallantry, determination and esprit de corps in accomplishing its mission as would warrant award of the Distinguished Service Cross to an individual.  
9.  Department of the Army Pamphlet 672-1 (Unit Citation and Campaign Register) shows that 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry, 30th Infantry Division was awarded Distinguished Unit Citation for the period 8 through 12 October 1944 by War Department General Order Number 11, dated 1946.  It also shows that the unit was awarded the Meritorious Unit Citation for the period 1 March through 31 August 1944 by General Order Number 129, Headquarters, 30th Infantry Division, dated 23 May 1945.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  During the applicant's tour of duty, his unit was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation and the Meritorious Unit Commendation.

2.  It is appropriate to list these awards on his separation document.

3.  While it is established that the applicant was treated for choroidoretinitus during his military service, SGO records show the condition attributable to disease, not a combat-related wound.  Entitlement to award of the Purple Heart cannot be established.

4.  In view of the foregoing, the applicant’s records should be corrected, but only as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by adding the Distinguished Unit Citation (now known as the Presidential Unit Citation) and the Meritorious Unit Commendation to the list of authorized awards of the individual concerned.

2.  That so much of the application as is in excess of the foregoing be denied.

BOARD VOTE:  

__RVO___  __KAN__  __PHM__  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		_Raymond V. O'Connor, Jr._____
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2002076946	
SUFFIX		
RECON	 	
DATE BOARDED	20030703 	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	 . . . . .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(NC, GRANT , DENY, GRANT PLUS)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.		
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.