| Mr. Carl W. S. Chun | Director | |
| Ms. Nancy L. Amos | Analyst |
| Ms. Irene N. Wheelwright | Chairperson | ||
| Ms. Kathleen A. Newman | Member | ||
| Mr. Richard T. Dunbar | Member |
APPLICANT REQUESTS: In effect, that he be awarded the Purple Heart.
APPLICANT STATES: That he incurred hearing loss due to a perforated eardrum, body scars, and a head injury. He provides as supporting evidence his Report of Separation, WD AGO Form 53-55; an Award of Disability Compensation or Pension, VA Form P-80a; and an Outpatient Routing Slip showing his service-connected disabilities which include scars and impaired hearing.
EVIDENCE OF RECORD: The applicant's military records were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire in 1973. Information contained herein was obtained from alternate sources.
The applicant was inducted into the Army on 29 March 1943 and entered active service on 6 April 1943. He arrived in the European Theater of Operations on 16 February 1945 and departed on 24 March 1946. He separated on 9 April 1946. His WD AGO Form 53-55 shows his military occupational specialty as Utility Repairman and his unit as the 546th Signal Base Depot Company. Item 34, Wounds Received in Action, indicates “None.” The applicant signed the WD AGO Form 53-55.
The only available service medical records are mostly illegible but date from 14 April 1943 (gastritis), 21 April 1943 (what appears to be an Eyes/Ears/Nose/Throat (EENT) appointment), September 1943 (rash on the right hand and EENT) and several 1944 EENT entries.
On or about 2 May 1946, the applicant was awarded a 10 percent service-connected disability pension for hearing loss of the right ear with perforated ear drum. It was noted that varicose veins in his left thigh were also service connected but less than 10 percent disabling. Stomach trouble was determined to be not service connected.
A Veterans Administration Clinical Record, Report of Ears/Nose/Throat Examination dated 5 March 1985 indicated that the applicant was not in combat. He was in the Signal Corps taking care of radar units. While in France stomach trouble developed. This happened after a mine blast. He was not in the jeep but was close by and his ears were injured so that he got very bad dizzy spells thereafter with headaches.
A 14 February 1996 letter from the applicant’s attorney requested his medical records. It noted that the applicant stated he was wounded sometime in April 1945 at Toul, France when a jeep struck a land mine near where he was standing and he suffered a concussion as well as shrapnel wounds.
The historical files of the 546th Signal Depot and 7th Army were reviewed at the National Archives, College Park, MD but failed to show the applicant’s entitlement to award of the Purple Heart.
Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound 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.
DISCUSSION: Considering all the evidence, allegations, and information presented by the applicant, together with the evidence of record, applicable law and regulations, it is concluded:
1. The Board appreciates the applicant’s service during World War II but there is no evidence of record and he provides none to show he was wounded as a result of enemy action.
2. In view of the foregoing, there is no basis for granting the applicant's request.
DETERMINATION: The applicant has failed to submit sufficient relevant evidence to demonstrate the existence of probable error or injustice.
BOARD VOTE:
________ ________ ________ GRANT
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
_ _INW_ _ __KAN__ __RTD__ DENY APPLICATION
| CASE ID | AR2002070114 |
| SUFFIX | |
| RECON | |
| DATE BOARDED | 2002/06/27 |
| TYPE OF DISCHARGE | |
| DATE OF DISCHARGE | |
| DISCHARGE AUTHORITY | |
| DISCHARGE REASON | |
| BOARD DECISION | DENY |
| REVIEW AUTHORITY | |
| ISSUES 1. | 107.0015 |
| 2. | |
| 3. | |
| 4. | |
| 5. | |
| 6. |
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