2. The applicant requests that his records be corrected to show that he was awarded the Purple Heart Medal for wounds received on D-Day during the World War II Normandy Invasion of Europe. He claims that he was wounded in the right buttocks by enemy small arms while clearing obstacles on Omaha Beach. His military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973 and the information herein was obtained from alternate sources.
3. The applicant was inducted into the Army of the United States on 26 January 1943 for the duration of World War II. Upon completion of his military training, he was assigned duties as a toolroom keeper in a construction engineering battalion. Following a transfer to England, he was assigned to the 146th Combat Engineer Battalion where he was trained in the demolition of enemy beach fortifications.
4. On 6 June 1944, the applicant participated in the D-Day Invasion. A member of Boat Crew #8, his unit was assigned the mission of clearing German obstacles from a portion of Omaha Beach. According to an historical account written by the officer-in-charge (OIC) of Boat Crew #8, the unit landed on Omaha Beach 0430 hours (0630 hours British Time) and had suffered 60% killed or wounded by 1200 hours. Although he did not witness it, the OIC stated that the applicant was wounded by the same German machinegun that killed another soldier. According to the applicant, he did not know that he had been wounded until after dark on D-Day when he found blood on his trousers caused by a bullet wound to his right buttocks. The wound was field dressed by the medic assigned to his unit.
5. After Normandy, the applicant participated in four other campaigns (Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe) before being returned to the United States and Camp Fannin, Texas, where he received his honorable discharge on 6 December 1945. However, following the end of hostilities and while he was still in the European Theater of Operations, the applicant attempted to verify his D-Day wound, but many of the witnesses had either been killed, or wounded and reassigned following medical treatment. Consequently, his WD AGO Form 53-55, Enlisted Record and Report of Separation, does not indicate that he was wounded in action.
6. The applicants Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical records indicate that he has a scar on his right buttocks.
7. Army Regulation 672-5-1, then in effect, provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart Medal is awarded for a wound sustained as a result of hostile action. The wound must have required treatment by a medical officer and records of medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
CONCLUSIONS:
1. The applicants claim that he was wounded by enemy small arms fire is supported by his OIC who, although not an eyewitness, acknowledges that he knew of the event through situation reports and adds that a second soldier was killed by the same small arms fire.
2. The applicants VA medical records indicate a scar on his right buttock
3. Because of the high casualty rate on Omaha Beach on the morning of 6 June 1944, only the most severely wounded were seen by medical doctors and had their wounds documented; all others were treated and returned to duty by enlisted medics. It is, therefore, unrealistic to expect the applicant to have complied with the technical regulatory requirements for the award of the Purple Heart Medal; however, it would be an injustice to deny him the award based upon a technicality (that he was not treated by a doctor and that the treatment was recorded).
4. In view of the foregoing findings and conclusions, 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 to the individual concerned the Purple Heart Medal for wounds received on Omaha Beach during the Normandy Invasion of 6 June 1944.
BOARD VOTE:
GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION
GRANT FORMAL HEARING
DENY APPLICATION
CHAIRPERSON
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