RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:        19 APRIL 2005
      DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20040004569


      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. Kenneth H. Aucock             |     |Analyst              |

      The following members, a quorum, were present:

|     |Mr. Raymond Wagner                |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. Larry Bergquist               |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. Larry Olson                   |     |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 that he was wounded by a Japanese knee mortar on
    2 May 1945 on Cebu Island in the Philippines.  The telegram to his wife
states that he was seriously injured.  The injury was from shrapnel.  He
spent 3-4 days in a field hospital.  He states that the servicing medical
unit could be one of three medical units.

3.  The applicant provides a letter of support from his daughter-in-law,
who provides the documents depicted herein.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant is requesting correction of an alleged error or injustice
which occurred on 8 December 1945.  The application submitted in this case
is dated 18 July 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 was inducted into the Army on 14 May 1943 and served in
the Asiatic-Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II with Company
A,    132nd Infantry Regiment, arriving in that theater in October 1943 and
returning to the United States in November 1945.  He was discharged at Fort
Devens, Massachusetts on 15 November 1945.  He was awarded the Philippine
Liberation Ribbon with one bronze service star, the Good Conduct Medal, the
Asiatic-Pacific Theater Campaign Ribbon, the World War II Victory Medal,
and the Combat Infantryman Badge.  Item 34, Wounds Received in Action, on
his Enlisted Record and Report of Separation, contains the word “None.”

4.  A Western Union telegram shows that The Adjutant General notified the
applicant’s wife that the applicant was seriously injured on Cebu on 2 May
1945.

5.  On 22 August 1986 the Chief, Personnel Services Division informed a
Member of Congress (MC) that the available records showed that the
applicant was seriously injured but not that he was wounded as a result of
enemy action.  That official also informed the MC that a review of the
organizational records of Company A, 132nd Infantry Regiment, showed that
he was sick in the hospital but not that he was wounded in action, and
consequently there was no authority whereby he could be awarded the Purple
Heart.  A memorandum for record on the correspondence to the MC contains
the remark, “Battle Casualty Report in recs shows seriously injured.
Morning report shows ‘ABS SK HOSP’                  3-8 May 45.”

6.  On 26 January 2001 the Military Awards Branch, Total Army Personnel
Command, notified a MC that the documentation provided in support of the
request [for award of the Purple Heart] was not sufficient to determine the
applicant’s eligibility for wounds to his foot, and that the malaria he
contacted was not a qualifying injury.

7.  In a 2 March 2002 letter to the National Personnel Records Center, the
applicant’s daughter-in-law provided details concerning the site of the
applicant’s treatment for his wound, as related by him.  She indicated that
the applicant stated that the field hospital was set up in an old barn,
which was probably a dairy, as there were large stainless steel milk tanks
and quite a few milking cows around, which some of the servicemen caught
and cooked.  She stated that he was quite sure that it was a dairy because
he was a herdsman from New York.

8.  In a 12 July 2004 statement a former comrade stated that he served with
the applicant in Bougainville in the Solomon Islands and then on the island
of Cebu in the Philippines.  He stated that while on patrol the applicant
was wounded by an explosion of a knee mortar, and that their platoon leader
was also wounded in the incident.  He stated that both were evacuated to a
hospital where they were treated, and that several days later they returned
to the unit.  That individual provided a copy of his Enlisted Record and
Honorable Discharge which shows that he served in the 132nd Infantry
Regiment and participated in the same two campaigns during almost the exact
two year time period as the applicant during World War II.

9.  Contemporary medical records show that the applicant indicated that he
received shrapnel during World War II and had picked metal out of his left
leg.

10.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides 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.

11.  The above-mentioned regulation also provides for award of the Bronze
Star Medal to each member of the Armed Forces of the United States who,
after         6 December 1941 has been cited in orders or awarded a
certificate for exemplary conduct in ground combat against an armed enemy
between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945.  The award of a Combat
Infantryman Badge is considered as a citation in orders.

12.  The Unit Citation and Campaign Participation Credit Register shows
that the 132nd Infantry Regiment participated in an assault landing on Cebu
Island on     26 March 1945.  That register also shows that the 132nd was
awarded the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation for its actions from17
October 1944 to 4 July 1945 and that it was an occupation force in Japan
from 8 September 1945 to       15 November 1945.

13.  The arrowhead is a bronze replica of an Indian arrowhead and denotes
participation in a combat parachute jump, combat glider landing, or
amphibious assault landing, while assigned or attached as a member of an
organization force carrying out an assigned tactical mission.  It is worn
on the service and suspension ribbon on the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal.

14.  The Army of Occupation Medal with Japan clasp is awarded for service
while assigned to an occupying force in Japan between 3 September 1945 and
         27 April 1952.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  There is no conclusive evidence to show that the applicant was wounded
in action.  As indicated, the records of his unit showed that he was sick
in the hospital, but not that he was wounded in action.  The unit morning
report showed that he was absent sick in the hospital from 3-8 May 1945.
However, the remark in the memorandum for record indicated that the battle
casualty report records showed that he was seriously injured.

2.  In January 2001 the Military Awards Branch indicated to a MC that the
malaria he contacted was not a qualifying injury for award of the Purple
Heart.

3.  By the same token, the telegram to the applicant’s wife states that he
was seriously injured on Cebu on 2 May 1945.  This would not appear to be
the type of notification or the wording used to inform a wife that her
husband had contacted malaria.

4.  The few details provided by the applicant to his daughter-in-law
concerning the site of his treatment appear to be bona fide; although they
in themselves are not proof he was wounded in action.

5.  The contemporary medical records only indicate what the applicant
stated – that he received shrapnel during the war.

6.  Both the applicant and his former comrade state that he [the applicant]
was wounded in action by a knee mortar.  This similarity cannot be
discounted.  His former comrade also volunteered information that their
platoon leader was also wounded in this same action.  The statement by this
individual appears to be an honest rendition of the facts.

7.  The preponderance of evidence - the memorandum of record concerning the
battle casualty report, the Western Union telegram stating that the
applicant was seriously injured, the minor details concerning the site of
his treatment, and the statement provided by his former comrade, tends to
support the applicant’s contention that he was wounded in action on 2 May
1945.

8.  Consequently, the applicant’s records should be corrected to show that
he was wounded in action on Cebu on 2 May 1945.  Thus, he is entitled to
award of the Purple Heart.

9.  The applicant is also entitled to award of the Bronze Star Medal by
virtue of his award of the Combat Infantryman Badge.

10.  The applicant was assigned as an infantryman with the 132nd during the
period of the assault landing on Cebu Island.  It is highly probable that
he participated in that assault.  Thus, he is entitled to award of the
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with bronze arrowhead.

11.  The applicant was with the 132nd when it was awarded the Philippine
Presidential Unit Citation and the Army of Occupation Medal with Japan
clasp.  He is entitled to these awards.

BOARD VOTE:

___RW__  ___LB___  ___LO __  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL 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 showing that he was wounded in action
on Cebu Island in the Philippines on 2 May 1945, by award of the Purple
Heart, the Bronze Star Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with
bronze arrowhead, the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, and the Army
of Occupation Medal with Japan clasp.




                            ___   Raymond Wagner_____
                                      CHAIRPERSON



                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20040004569                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20050419                                |
|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.                      |                                        |


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