PROCEEDINGS


         IN THE CASE OF:
                                            

         BOARD DATE: 29 August 2002
         DOCKET NUMBER: AR2002067848


         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. G. E. Vandenberg		Analyst

The following members, a quorum, were present:

Ms. Margaret K. Patterson		Chairperson
Mr. Christopher J. Prosser		Member
Mr. Harry B. Oberg		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.

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2. The applicant requests that his military records be corrected to show that he was wounded in the right shoulder, had a kidney removed, and that he had the military qualifications of truck driver and furnace operator. He also requests reconsideration of his previous application to correct his military records to show he was a noncommissioned officer (corporal) not a private first class (PFC).

3. The applicant states that he has addressed these concerns to members of veteran's service organizations over the years but nothing has been done. He asks that the Board address his concerns because they are important to him.

4. The applicant's personnel records are reported to have been lost or destroyed in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center. Incorporated herein by reference are military records, which were summarized, in the decisional document prepared to reflect the Board's previous consideration of the case (AC85-04743) on 20 July 1988.

5. The prior decision does not mention a review of the service medical records that are currently associated with the applicant's file, therefore, the staff of the Board has determined that these records constitute new evidence requiring referral of this case for Board review.

6. The applicant entered active duty on 1 December 1939. His first duty assignment was with Company A, 73^rd Coastal Artillery Corps in the Canal Zone. While serving in the Canal Zone, his medical records show that he sustained a wound to the left hand, on 5 April 1940; that he developed malaria, on 27 May 1940; and while in the hospital with chicken pox, he contracted the measles and tonsillitis, on 15 December 1940. All of these conditions were considered in the line of duty. These medical records show the applicant as a private with either Company A, 73^rd Coastal Artillery Corps or Headquarters Company, 10^th infantry Regiment.

7. The next entry in his medical record shows that he had an appendectomy on 27 April 1942 and during the same hospitalization he had an I&D (incision and drainage) of a sebaceous cyst behind his left ear on 4 September 1942. At this time he was shown to be a PFC serving with Company F, 18^th Infantry Regiment, 1^st Infantry Division.

8. On 23 April 1943, as a result of enemy action near Mateur, Tunisia, the applicant received a gunshot wound to his right arm and shrapnel wounds to his right leg. While in the hospital for these wounds he was treated for pain in his right side and intermittent blood in the urine. The condition worsened and necessitated the removal of his right kidney. All three of these conditions were determined to have been in the line of duty and caused by enemy action.


9. The applicant continued to have medical problems and was transferred to the United States for follow-up care and evaluation.

10. He was evaluated and it was determined that he was suffering from moderately severe left hydronephrosis cause by an ureteripelvic obstruction that had existed prior to induction. Hydronephrosis is a condition that develops when the pelvis and calyces of the kidney become distended because urine is unable to drain into the bladder. Hydronephrosis is not a separate disease, but a physical phenomenon that occurs with many diseases.

11. A Board of Medical Officers evaluated the applicant and determined that he was no longer physically qualified for service due to a left kidney condition which they determined existed prior to service. Based upon this decision the applicant was separated with an honorable discharged on 27 October 1943 with a Certificate of Disability Discharge (CDD).

12. The discharge document shows the applicant's rank as PFC, it indicates his highest rank held was PFC, and that his military qualifications were unknown as he was discharged on temporary service records. He is shown to have served in the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater of Operations from 1 August 1942 through 22 September 1943. The only award or decoration listed is a Purple Heart.

13. During the ensuing years, the applicant has applied for award of or replacement of medals on several occasions. Administrative decisions have granted different medals as follows:

         a. In 1984, a review by the Reserve Personnel Command determined that the applicant was entitled to the American Campaign Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze service star. It deferred action on consideration of award of the Combat Infantryman Badge and Purple Heart. No final action was completed on this request.

         b. Based on a second request in 1985, a DD Form 215 (Correction to the
DD Form 214) was issued to delete the European-African-Middle Eastern Service Medal, and to issue European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze service star, the World War II (WWII) Victory Medal, and the WWII Victory Lapel Pin. It incorrectly identified the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal as item 33, not item 23.

c. In 1990, it was directed that a replacement medal for the applicant's Purple Heart be issued to him.


d. In 1992, the applicant was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge and Bronze Star Medal with a direction that the applicant be issued properly engraved copies of the Bronze Star Medal, the CIB and a replacement medal for his Purple Heart.

14. In the development of this case a search of the health record research project records, 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. A search of these files found that the applicant was listed for the wounds and hospitalizations arising from the combat wounds noted in paragraph 8 above.

15. Army Pamphlet 672-1 (Unit Citation and Campaign Participation Credit Register) indicates that during the period the applicant was attached to it, Company F, 18^th Infantry, 1^st Infantry Division participated in the Algeria-French Morocco campaign.

CONCLUSIONS:

1. Without his personnel records, the Board is unable to determine what, if any, military qualifications or specialties the applicant might have earned or if he was ever promoted to a rank higher than PFC. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it is presumed that the available service records are correct.

2. The applicant's medical records show that he received combat wounds to both his right arm and his right leg on 23 April 1943 and that the injury that necessitated the removal of his right kidney was considered to be a result of hostile action. It is therefore, appropriate to list all three of these as combat wounds in the appropriate location on his discharge document.

3. Neither the applicant's discharge document nor the corrections to this document list all of his awards and decorations. The records show that the applicant has previously been determined to be entitled to the Bronze Star Medal (based on the receipt of the Combat Infantryman Badge), the Purple Heart, the American Campaign Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze service star, and the Combat Infantryman Badge. These awards should be shown on his discharge document.

4. In view of the foregoing findings and conclusions, correcting the applicant's records as recommended below will correct an error.

RECOMMENDATION:

1. That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing that the individual concerned:

a. received the following awards: the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the American Campaign Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze service star, and the Combat Infantryman Badge; and,

b. that the applicant sustained a gunshot wound to his right arm and shrapnel wounds to his right leg with an subsequent loss of his right kidney.

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


BOARD VOTE:

__MKP__ __CJP___ _HBO___ GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION




                  _Margaret K. Patterson_
                  CHAIRPERSON

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INDEX

CASE ID	AR2002067848
SUFFIX
RECON
DATE BOARDED	20020829
TYPE OF DISCHARGE
DATE OF DISCHARGE
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY
DISCHARGE REASON
BOARD DECISION	GRANT,(GRANT PLUS)
REVIEW AUTHORITY
ISSUES 1.	129.05
2.	107.0015
3.	101.05
4.
5.
6.