| Mr. Carl W. S. Chun | Director | |
| Mr. Hubert S. Shaw, Jr. | Analyst |
| Mr. Arthur A. Omartian | Chairperson | |
| Mr. Thomas B. Redfern | Member | |
| Mr. Thomas E. O'Shaughnessy, Jr. | Member |
APPLICANT REQUESTS: Award of the Purple Heart.
APPLICANT STATES: That he was wounded in a combat zone in New Guinea in 1943. He states that he was on guard duty at Oro Bay in early 1943 and that he was relieved from his post. The applicant further states that, while enroute to a location for a truck to pick him up, the Japanese fired a 40 millimeter shell which struck and hospitalized the applicant and two others. In support of application, he provided a copy of a letter from the Military Awards Branch of U.S. Total Army Personnel Command and copies of the front side of two medical documents reproduced side by side.
EVIDENCE OF RECORD: The applicant’s service personnel records were lost or destroyed in a fire at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973. The records available to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records were provided in part by the applicant and also obtained from alternate sources.
The primary record available to this Board is the applicant’s WD AGO Form
53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation and Honorable Discharge). This document shows that he was inducted on 2 October 1942 and that he served in the Western Pacific Theater of Operations from 30 January 1944 to 6 December 1945. He was honorably discharged on 1 January 1946.
The applicant’s WD AGO Form 53-55 does not show award of the Purple Heart in item 33 (Decorations and Awards). Item 34 (Wounds Received in Action) of the his WD AGO Form 53-55 shows the entry, “NONE.”
The Army Review Boards Agency Support Division in St. Louis, Missouri, obtained hospital admission cards from the historical files of the Office of the Surgeon General of the Army. These documents show that the applicant was admitted in December 1944 to a General Hospital for multiple wounds to the legs and abdomen which were classified as “injury, non-battle.” A second hospital admission card shows that the applicant was treated for dermatitis in May 1944.
The applicant provided a Medical Department Form 52a. This Medical Record shows the following entries:
“Wounds, gunshot, multiple,40mm japanese shell points of entrance both legs, right upper abdomen. AI [accidental injury]: while unloading garbage at Base Dump #10, APO 503, 1300 hr [1:00 PM] 9 Dec 44 [9 December 1944], shell exploded suddenly in garbage. LD: Yes. [Line of duty: yes].
248th Gen [General] Hospital
GSW, multiple, superficial, AI [accidental injury], while unloading garbage, 40 mm cal [caliber] Jap [Japanese] shell suddenly exploded at base dump No 10 Oro Bay N G [New Guinea] 1300 hrs. 9 Dec 44. LOD [line of duty] Yes”
This form is authenticated with the name and rank of a Medical Officer in the rank of captain.
The second form, provided by the applicant, is a handwritten record prepared at the 248th General Hospital at the time of the applicant’s return to duty on 19 December 1944. This form restates essentially the same information on the previously cited Medical Department Form 52a, shows the applicant was returned to duty, and was authenticated by the same Medical Officer who is listed on the previously cited medical form.
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, 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. Medical records provided by the applicant show that he was accidentally injured on 9 December 1944 at Oro Bay, New Guinea. The injuries were sustained when a 40mm shell in Base Dump Number 10 exploded wounding him in the legs and abdomen.
2. Hospital admission records from the historical files of the Office of the Surgeon General of the Army confirm that the applicant was admitted to a General Hospital for wounds to the legs and abdomen which were classified as “injury, non-battle.”
3. For award of the Purple Heart, Army regulation requires that wounds are the result of hostile action, that the wounds are treated and that a record be made of that treatment. Since the applicant’s injuries were not the result of hostile action, there is no basis for award of the Purple Heart in this case.
4. In order to justify correction of a military record the applicant must show to the satisfaction of the Board, or it must otherwise satisfactorily appear, that the record is in error or unjust. The applicant has failed to submit evidence that would satisfy this requirement.
5. 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
__TEO___ __TBR__ __AAO__ DENY APPLICATION
| CASE ID | AR2002080262 |
| SUFFIX | |
| RECON | YYYYMMDD |
| DATE BOARDED | 20030401 |
| TYPE OF DISCHARGE | (HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR) |
| DATE OF DISCHARGE | YYYYMMDD |
| DISCHARGE AUTHORITY | AR . . . . . |
| DISCHARGE REASON | |
| BOARD DECISION | DENY |
| REVIEW AUTHORITY | MR CHUN |
| ISSUES 1. | 107.0015.0000 |
| 2. | |
| 3. | |
| 4. | |
| 5. | |
| 6. |
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