RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:            02 MARCH 2004
      DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2003096485


      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             |
|     |Ms. Deborah L. Brantley           |     |Senior Analyst       |


  The following members, a quorum, were present:

|     |Mr. Fred N. Eichorn               |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. Arthur A. Omartian            |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. Robert Duecaster              |     |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).

THE APPLICANT'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant requests award of the Purple Heart and any other
decorations he may be entitled to.

2.  The applicant states, in effect, that his separation document indicates
that he was wounded in action on 22 November 1944 while in Germany, but he
never received the Purple Heart.  He states he would like the award for
posterity.

3.  The applicant provides a copy of his separation document in support of
his request.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant is requesting correction of an error which occurred on
9 November 1945.  The application submitted in this case is dated 3 October
2003.

2.  Title 10, U.S. Code, Section 1552(b), provides that applications for
correction of military records must be filed within 3 years after discovery
of the alleged error or injustice.  This provision of law allows the Army
Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to excuse failure to file
within the 3-year statute of limitation if the ABCMR determines that it
would be in the interest of justice to do so.  In this case, the ABCMR will
conduct a review of the merits of the case to determine if it would be in
the interest of justice to excuse the applicant’s failure to timely file.

3.  The applicant’s military records are not available to the Board for
review.  A fire destroyed approximately 18 million service members’ records
at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973.  It is believed that the
applicant’s records were lost or destroyed in that fire.  However, there
were sufficient documents remaining in a reconstructed record for the Board
to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case.

4.  The applicant's separation document indicates that he entered active
duty on
7 November 1942 and arrived in the European Theater of Operations in March
1943.  His duty title is recorded as "rifleman" and he was assigned to the
26th Infantry Regiment.

5.  Files maintained by the Office of The Surgeon General (OTSG), commonly
referred to as the SGO File, indicates the applicant was hospitalized for a
“cold injury, ground type” between 23 November 1944 and 15 January 1945 and
attributed his hospitalization to a “non-battle injury.”  However, the SGO
File did note a diagnosis of "Condition due to reduced temperature: Trench
foot."


6.  The applicant returned to the United States in September 1945 and on
9 November 1945 he was honorably discharged as a result of demobilization.
Item 34 (wounds received in action) on his separation document indicates
"22 Nov 44 Germany."  The document does not reflect entitlement to the
Purple Heart.

7.  While award of the Purple Heart for frostbite injuries is currently
prohibited, such injuries were previously a basis for the award.  Until
1951 Army Regulation 600-45, which governed the award of Army decorations,
stated that for the purpose of considering an award of the Purple Heart, a
“wound” is defined as an injury to any part of the body from an outside
force, element, or agent sustained while in action in the face of the armed
enemy or as a result of a hostile act of such enemy.  An “element” pertains
to weather and the award of this decoration to personnel who were severely
frostbitten while actually engaged in combat is authorized.

8.  In similar cases the OTSG has provided excerpts from an Army historical
document discussing the topic at issue.  It makes clear numerous specific
points including the following: the term “element” (included from the
beginning) meant weather.  The governing regulation and policy were not
always the same.  Both policy and enforcement varied from time to time and
place to place and were not consistently applied even in adjacent major
European commands.  The regulation normally authorized the Purple Heart for
frostbite while in combat and sometimes excluded the award for trenchfoot
while in combat.  The Medical Department resisted administering a policy
they could not control; in part, because initial diagnosis was very
difficult yet the symptomatic development of individual conditions invited
re-diagnosis; in part, because the ultimate degree of permanent disability
had virtually nothing to do with the initial cause; in part, because
training and enforcement of prevention rested with line commanders; and
finally, because initial diagnosis, while extremely difficult, was almost
always made by medical personnel who were intimately familiar with both the
weather and the tactical situation, but rear echelon doctors tended to
change the diagnoses for various reasons.

9.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that the Bronze
Star Medal is to be awarded to individuals who were authorized the Combat
Infantryman Badge or the Combat Medical Badge for service during World War
II.  Awards of the Bronze Star Medal based on one of the combat badges is
commonly referred to as a conversion award.

10.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides for award of the World War II
Victory Medal.  It is awarded for service between 7 December 1941 and 31
December 1946, both dates inclusive.  The award was omitted from his
separation document.

11.  A review of Department of the Army Pamphlet 672-1 (Unit Citation and
Campaign Participation Credit Register) notes the applicant’s unit was
awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation (now known as a Presidential Unit
Citation), the Army of Occupation Medal with “Germany” Clasp, and the
Belgian Fourragere.  These unit awards were omitted from his separation
document.  The applicant’s unit was also credited with two assault landings
(Sicily and Normandy) and as such is entitled to two bronze arrowheads on
his European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Clearly the applicant sustained a cold weather injury to his foot which
was sufficiently severe to warrant his hospitalization for nearly two
months and for the injury to be recorded on his separation document.  While
the medical diagnosis of trench foot and frostbite was widely debated
during World War II, as noted in the historical document provided by the
OTSG, the Board concludes that in this particular instance there is
sufficient evidence to conclude that the applicant’s foot condition was the
result of a cold weather injury, regardless of the diagnostic term
ultimately used to describe the injury.  As such it would be in the
interest of justice and compassion to award him the Purple Heart for the
cold weather injuries he sustained to his foot in November 1944.

2.  Based on award of the Combat Infantryman Badge, the applicant would be
entitled to the Bronze Star Medal as a conversion award.

3.  The evidence also shows that the applicant is entitled to the World War
II Victory Medal, a Distinguished Unit Citation (now known as a
Presidential Unit Citation), the Army of Occupation Medal with “Germany”
Clasp, the Belgian Fourragere, and two bronze arrowheads on his European-
African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal.

BOARD VOTE:

__FNE___  __AAO__  ___RD__  GRANT RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

The Board determined that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant
a recommendation for relief and to excuse failure to timely file.  As a
result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army records of the
individual concerned be corrected by:

      a.  awarding the individual concerned the Purple Heart;


      b.  awarding him the Bronze Star Medal as a conversion award based on
the Combat Infantryman Badge; and


      c.  showing that he is entitled to the World War II Victory Medal, a
Distinguished Unit Citation (now known as a Presidential Unit Citation),
the Army of Occupation Medal with “Germany” Clasp, the Belgian Fourragere,
and two bronze arrowheads on his European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign
Medal.





            ____Fred N. Eichorn______
                    CHAIRPERSON




                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR2003096485                            |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20040302                                |
|TYPE OF DISCHARGE       |(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)    |
|DATE OF DISCHARGE       |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DISCHARGE AUTHORITY     |AR . . . . .                            |
|DISCHARGE REASON        |                                        |
|BOARD DECISION          |GRANT                                   |
|REVIEW AUTHORITY        |                                        |
|ISSUES         1.       |107.00                                  |
|2.                      |                                        |
|3.                      |                                        |
|4.                      |                                        |
|5.                      |                                        |
|6.                      |                                        |