RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:         03 MARCH 2005
      DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20040003426


      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 Eichorn                  |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Ms. Margaret Patterson            |     |Member               |
|     |Ms. Carol Kornhoff                |     |Member               |

      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.

2.  The applicant states he feels he is entitled to a Purple Heart because
of bilateral frostbite to his feet sustained while serving in Belgium.  He
states he was hospitalized for 3 months.  He also states that he cut his
hand in Austria.

3.  He states he knows of other people who received the Purple Heart for
the same reason.

4.  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 alleged error or injustice
which occurred on 17 December 1945.  The application submitted in this case
is dated
16 June 2004.

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 limitations 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, including original service medical
documents, in a reconstructed record for the Board to conduct a fair and
impartial review of this case.

4.  The applicant entered active duty in February 1943 and arrived in the
European Theater of Operations in October 1944.

5.  Two different medical treatment records, dated 14 January 1945,
indicate that the applicant was diagnosed with bilateral trench foot and
evacuated from duties in Belgium.  The applicant reported being exposed to
wet and cold for 23 days prior to 14 January 1945.

6.  A single handwritten entry on the back of one of the 14 January 1945
medical treatment documents does contain the statement “frostbite, feet,
bilat[eral].”  However, all of the subsequent treatment forms show the
applicant’s diagnosis as trench foot, including an extensive physical
examination which was conducted on 15 January 1945 and which recommended
the applicant be evacuated to the United Kingdom.

7.  A 28 February 1945 medical notation indicates that the applicant would
be “ready for duty after 1 more week.”

8.  A 10 August 1945 medical treatment form indicates that the applicant
was treated for an infection in his left hand which was secondary to a
laceration which was “incurred when soldier tried to stop [a] flight and
blocked a blow from [a] beer glass fighter” on 20 July 1945 in Austria.

9.  The applicant departed the European Theater of Operations in December
1945 and on 17 December 1945 was honorably discharged as a result of
demobilization.  His separation document, which he authenticated, does not
reflect entitlement to the Purple Heart and item 34 (wounds received in
action) reflects “NONE.”

10.  A separation physical examination confirms the applicant’s treatment
and hospitalization for trench foot in January 1945.

11.  An “Enlisted Record and Report of Separation Honorable Discharge,”
which is a recap of the applicant’s separation document, also shows no
wounds sustained as a result of hostile action.

12.  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.  The commanding General of any separated unit and hospital
commanders are designated as the primary wartime award authority for the
Purple Heart.

13.  While award of the Purple Heart for frostbite injuries is currently
prohibited, such injuries were previously a basis for the award.  Until 23
August 1951, Army Regulation 600-45, which governed the award of Army
decorations at the time, stated that for the purpose of considering an
award of the Purple Heart, a “wound” was 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 was authorized.

14.  The Medline Plus Online (an online service by the National Library of
Medicine and the National Institutes of Health) medical encyclopedia states
that frostbite occurs when the skin and body tissues are exposed to cold
temperature for a prolonged period of time. Hands, feet, noses, and ears
are most likely to be affected.  The first symptoms are a "pins and
needles" sensation followed by numbness. There may be an early throbbing or
aching, but later on the affected part becomes insensate (feels like a
"block of wood").  Frostbitten skin is hard, pale, cold, and has no
feeling. When skin has thawed out, it becomes red and painful (early
frostbite). With more severe frostbite, the skin may appear white and numb
(tissue has started to freeze).  Very severe frostbite may cause blisters,
gangrene (blackened dead tissue), and damage to deep structures such as
tendons, muscles, nerves, and bone.
15.  Doyland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary describes frostbite as damage
to tissues as the result exposure to environmental temperatures and notes
that deep frostbite is marked by vivid cyanosis (bluish discoloration).

16.  Neither of the above discuss trench foot; however, The Merck Manual,
Fourteenth Edition groups "Frostnip; Frostbite; Accidental Hypothermia;
Exposure; Immersion Foot or Trench Foot; Chilblains; [and] Perenia"
together under the heading of Cold Injuries.  It notes that exposure to
damp cold (temperatures around freezing) causes immersion or trench foot,
chilblains, and frostnip.  “Exposure to dry cold (temperatures well below
freezing) more often causes frostbite…"

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The possibility of inconsistency in applying the rules and criteria,
and the apparent difficulty in diagnosing cold injuries has been noted.
Nevertheless, the case comes down to diagnosis and to the medical
authorities that were present at the time and who would have had the
authority to award the Purple Heart.  There is no evidence that any of the
authorized award authorities concluded that the applicant’s foot condition
warranted an award of the Purple Heart.

2.  The fact that the applicant’s condition was consistently recorded as
trench foot and that the trench foot resulted from “wet and cold” weather,
rather than merely “cold” weather, supports a conclusion that the
applicant’s diagnosis was accurate and that the single handwritten entry on
the back of one of the medical treatment forms was inaccurate.  Award of
the Purple Heart for trench foot is prohibited.

3.  Original medical treatment records indicate that the applicant’s
laceration to his hand was accidental and not the result of enemy action.
That injury does not meet the requirements for award of the Purple Heart.

4.  In order to justify correction of a military record the applicant must
show, or it must otherwise satisfactorily appear, that the record is in
error or unjust.  The applicant has failed to submit evidence that would
satisfy that requirement.

5.  Records show the applicant should have discovered the alleged error or
injustice now under consideration on 17 December 1945, the date of his
separation from active duty.  However, the ABCMR was not established until
2 January 1947.  As a result, the time for the applicant to file a request
for correction of any error or injustice expired on 1 January 1950.
However, the applicant did not file within the 3-year statute of
limitations and has not provided a compelling explanation or evidence to
show that it would be in the interest of justice to excuse the failure to
timely file.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

__FE ___  __MP ___  ___CK __  DENY APPLICATION

BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

1.  The Board determined that the evidence presented does not demonstrate
the existence of a probable error or injustice.  Therefore, the Board
determined that the overall merits of this case are insufficient as a basis
for correction of the records of the individual concerned.

2.  As a result, the Board further determined that there is no evidence
provided which shows that it would be in the interest of justice to excuse
the applicant's

failure to timely file this application within the 3-year statute of
limitations prescribed by law.  Therefore, there is insufficient basis to
waive the statute of limitations for timely filing or for correction of the
records of the individual concerned.




                                  ______Fred Eichorn_______
                                            CHAIRPERSON



                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20040003426                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20050303                                |
|TYPE OF DISCHARGE       |(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)    |
|DATE OF DISCHARGE       |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DISCHARGE AUTHORITY     |AR . . . . .                            |
|DISCHARGE REASON        |                                        |
|BOARD DECISION          |DENY                                    |
|REVIEW AUTHORITY        |                                        |
|ISSUES         1.       |107.00                                  |
|2.                      |                                        |
|3.                      |                                        |
|4.                      |                                        |
|5.                      |                                        |
|6.                      |                                        |


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