RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:        31 MARCH 2005
      DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20040002754


      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. Williams Powers               |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. Ronald Weaver                 |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. Leonard Hassell               |     |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, in effect, that a single Department of Defense
Form 215 (Correction to DD Form 214 Certificate of Release or Discharge
from Active Duty) be issued reflecting all of his World War II awards and
decorations.  In multiple correspondence spanning several years, the
applicant has asked, in addition to the single Department of Defense Form
215, that his records also be corrected to show entitlement to two awards
of the Purple Heart, vice the one currently shown, an award of the Silver
Star and Bronze Star Medal with “V” device, vice the one Bronze Star Medal
currently shown, and award of the “Expert Combat Infantry Badge.”

2.  The applicant has also asked, in effect, that his records, including
his military award certificates and orders, be corrected to show that he
was serving as a master sergeant, pay grade E-8.

3.  The applicant states, in a document he originally authored and
submitted with correspondence in July 2000, that he fought in Northern
Africa and that his last battle was on Hill 315-299 in Tunisia.  He related
that many of the American troops were pinned in a cross fire by enemy
machineguns and that orders were given to “fix bayonets upon their guns.”
He states that he and a captain saw two enemy machinegun nests on top of a
hill above the American troops and that he took a 50-caliber machinegun and
“knocked out the two enemy machinegun nests.”  He indicated that the
American troops were in a gorge, pinned down, and could not make a move up
the hill.

4.  The applicant states that he and the captain were on the left of the
gorge and saw an enemy tank coming through the gorge toward the American
troops and that the enemy tank “was trying to put itself straight off an
embankment so as it could then open fire upon the troops in the gorge.”  He
states that he ran to some officers, including a brigadier general, and
told them to give him “some high charges” and he would blow up the enemy
tank.  He notes his request was granted and that he gave his name to the
officers, took two high charges, and ordered all the troops in the gorge to
open fire upon the enemy tank.  He states that he ran with the two charges,
turned the keys, dove under the tank, and blew up the tank and himself
because the “charges had gone off faster then [he] could get [himself] away
from the enemy tank.”

5.  He states that doctors told him that he was “flown back to a hospital
far behind the battle zone” and that he was bleeding, had loss of memory,
and could not see.  He states he was also told that he was to receive a
Silver Star, a Bronze Star Medal, and two Purple Hearts.  In the original
July 2000 correspondence he indicated that he had been told he would
receive a Purple Heart but updated that number on the statement submitted
with recent correspondence to the Board.  The applicant also indicated that
he had been told that he would “receive a Battlefield Commission to Master
Sergeant.”

6.  The applicant provides a copy of a Military Order of the Purple Heart
Life Member Certificate as evidence that he was a master sergeant.  He also
cites a 1943 medical document which shows his rank as master sergeant.

7.  He submits copies of a 1999 Department of the Army Form 1577
(Authorization for Issuance of Awards), issued by the Chief, Army Reference
Branch, National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, authorizing
issuance of a Silver Star and Bronze Star Medal with “V” device as evidence
of his Silver Star and Bronze Star Medal with “V” device.  He also submits
a copy of an unsigned Silver Star award citation and a copy of a World War
II award order reflecting award of the Silver Star.

8.  He submits no evidence supporting his claim for a second award of the
Purple Heart or the Expert Infantryman Badge, which he refers to as the
Expert Combat Infantry Badge.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant has submitted multiple applications to the Board over
several years requesting the various awards noted above and the issue of
his rank.  With the exception of his request for award of the Purple Heart,
all of his other requests have been closed administratively without review
by the Board.  As such, in fairness to the applicant, his latest
application, which does contain previously requested corrections, is being
referred to the Board for appropriate consideration.

2.  The applicant’s original military personnel file was apparently lost or
destroyed in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Centers.
However, files available from a variety of sources, including two previous
Board actions, his original final pay statement, a copy of his Transcript
From Enlisted Records, documents issued by the National Personnel Records
Centers, and files maintained by the Office of The Surgeon General, were
sufficient to reconstruct events surrounding the applicant’s military
service, and to rendered a fair and equitable determination on the various
issues he has continued to raise to the Board, and which have not
previously been considered the Board.

3.  The applicant’s Transcript From Enlisted Record indicates that the
applicant entered active duty on 6 January 1942, arrived in the European-
African-Middle Eastern Theater of Operations in December 1942, participated
in the Tunisia Campaign, returned to the United States in July 1943 and on
2 August 1943 was discharged in the grade of private at the Ashford General
Hospital in West Virginia.

4.  That same document indicates that the applicant held an infantry
specialty (rifleman-745), that he had been assigned to Company F, 6th
Armored Infantry, and that at the time of his separation was entitled to
the World War II Victory Medal, and the European-African-Middle Eastern
Theater Campaign Ribbon with one bronze service star denoting participation
in one designated campaign period.

5.  The medical treatment document provided by the applicant, which he
argues supports his claim that he was a master sergeant, notes that he was
receiving medical treatment as of 2 April 1943 and continued to receive
treatment through 6 April 1943.  The treatment appears to be for
psychiatric related manifestation, including being uncooperative, confused,
yelling, and exhibiting inappropriate actions or responses.  His files also
included a 13 May 1943 medical treatment document indicating that the
applicant was admitted to the psychiatric ward of the 261st Clearing
Station at 1100 hours on 13 May 1943 and subsequently transferred to the
40th Station Hospital.  That document indicates his grade as private.

6.  The files of the Office of The Surgeon General, commonly referred to as
the SGO Files, confirm the applicant’s May 1943 hospitalization.  That file
indicates that he was discharged from medical facilities in August 1943 and
that his diagnosis was “constitutional psychopathic state, inadequate
personality.”

7.  A final pay statement indicates that the applicant was “discharged
without honor” under the provisions of Army Regulation 615-360 following
the proceedings of a board of officers held at Ashford General Hospital
which was approved on 29 July 1943.  The pay statement confirms that the
applicant was a private at the time of his discharge.  The applicant
authenticated the pay statement.

8.  In 1945 the “Secretary of War’s Discharge Review Board” determined that
the applicant was entitled to an honorable discharge and directed that an
honorable discharge certificate be issued.

9.  In 1946 the applicant was awarded an 80 percent disability rating by
the Department of Veterans Affairs for his “nervous condition.”

10.  In March 1988 a Bronze Star Medal certificate was issued to the
applicant “for meritorious achievement in ground combat against the Armed
enemy during World War II in the European African Middle Eastern Theater of
Operations.”  The basis for the award was not in records available to the
Board and may have been issued based on an administrative determination
that the applicant served as an infantryman, and as such, might have been
eligible for the Combat Infantryman Badge.  A Combat Infantryman Badge
would also have entitled him to a Bronze Star Medal.  Awards of the Bronze
Star Medal based on a World War II Combat Infantryman Badge are commonly
referred to as conversion awards.

11.  On 25 January 1989 this Board considered a request from the applicant
for an award of the Purple Heart for “wounds received in North Africa.”
The applicant also requested “replacement of several medals and awards
which have become lost over the years.”  He made no mention of entitlement
to the Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal with “V” device, or the Expert
Infantryman Badge in that request.  The Board proceedings noted that the
applicant reported being wounded “when he dove under an enemy tank with two
explosive charges and detonated the charges blowing up the tank and
himself.”

12.  The 1989 Board proceedings noted that in the applicant’s 1945 request
to have his discharge upgraded he also indicated that his father had
received a telegram informing him that his son (the applicant) was
“seriously wounded in the North African area on or about 29 March 1943.”
The applicant stated that he sustained a shrapnel wound to his head.
However, the Board proceedings indicated that a thorough search of the
applicant’s records, and the records of his unit “failed to disclose any
wound received.”  The proceedings indicated that medical records showed
that the applicant was treated at a medical aid station on 27 March 1943
for “acute deafness and hysterical anxiety due to shelling” but that there
was no indication of any wounds received.  The proceedings indicate that
medical documents showed that a “diagnosis of psychoneurosis, severe, was
made the next day [28 March 1943] and the applicant was transferred to a
field hospital.”  On 8 April 1943 he “began claiming he had amnesia” and he
was eventually found unfit for return to the front and was transferred to
the United States, “arriving at Ashford General Hospital on 5 July 1943.”

13.  The 25 January 1989 Board denied the applicant’s petition for an award
of the Purple Heart.

14.  On 11 December 1989 a member of the ABCMR (Army Board for Correction
of Military Records) “section” at the United States Army Reserve Personnel
Center, issued a Department of Defense Form 215 correcting the applicant’s
2 August 1943 separation document to add the Bronze Star Medal, Good
Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, and
Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII, to item 31 of his original separation
document.  The basis for issuing the Department of Defense Form 215 appears
to have been an administrative determination and there was no indication
that the Board directed the correction.

15.  On 30 September 1991 a second Bronze Star Medal certificate was issued
recognizing the applicant’s “meritorious achievement in ground combat
against the armed enemy during World War II in the European-African-Middle
Eastern Theater of Operations.”  The certificate appears to duplicate the
March 1988 Bronze Star Medal certificate.  That same day, 30 September
1991, the Chief, Personnel Service Division of the United States Army
Reserve Personnel Center authorized issuance (on a Department of the Army
Form 1577) of the Bronze Star Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the American
Campaign Medal, the European–African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one
bronze service star, the World War II Victory Medal, the Combat Infantryman
Badge, the Honorable Service Lapel Button, and a sharpshooter badge with
rifle bar, the same awards recorded between the 1989 Department of Defense
Form 215 and the applicant’s 1943 separation document.  At the top of one
of the authorization forms, the applicant wrote that he received the listed
award on 10 October 1991.

16.  However, also contained in documents available to the Board, and
provided by the applicant in numerous correspondence to the Board, is
another Department of the Army Form 1577, also dated 30 September 1991,
which authorized issuance of the Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal with “V”
device, Purple Heart, Letter “V” device, Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster, and
Expert Infantryman Badge with clasp, in addition to the sharpshooter badge
w/rifle bar.  At the top of that form the applicant wrote “I still awaiting
to be receiving these awards from 30th September 1991.”  There is no
indication in available records regarding the source of this second 30
September 1991 Department of the Army Form 1577 and there is no Department
of the Army Form 215 confirming entitlement to those awards.

17.  On 2 August 1999 the Chief, Army Reference Branch, National Personnel
Records Center, authorized issuance of the Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal
with “V” device, Purple Heart with Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster, Combat
Infantryman Badge, Expert Infantryman Badge, and sharpshooter badge with
rifle bar.  Again the basis for authorizing the decorations, which were not
confirmed on either the applicant’s original separation document or the
1989 Department of Defense Form 215, was not in records available to the
Board, but may merely have duplicated some of the awards listed on the
questionable 30 September 1991 issuing document.

18.  On 20 May 2003 this Board considered a request from the Disabled
American Veterans on behalf of the applicant to reconsider his previous
request for award of the Purple Heart.  While the Board noted that files
indicated that his original request was considered in January 1989, it also
noted that a copy of those proceedings was not available at that time.  The
Board accepted an “undated” copy of a newspaper article titled, “496 NAMES
ADDED TO ARMY WOUNDED” as evidence that the applicant was wounded in action
in North Africa and granted his request for award of the Purple Heart.
Although not addressed by the May 2003 Board, imbedded in the documents
submitted with the application for reconsideration was references to the
other awards, including the valor awards, which the applicant believed he
was entitled to.

19.  On 25 July 2003 orders were issued awarding the applicant the Purple
Heart based on the May 2003 Board directive.  The orders indicate the
applicant was wounded “on or about 29 March 1943.”  The basis for selecting
the date
29 March 1943 as the date the applicant was wounded is not entirely clear,
however, it may stem from a copy of a “General Order” issued by the 40th
Station Hospital indicating the applicant had been awarded the “Silver
Star” for “gallantry on *** 29 March 1943…” and an undated, unsigned
citation with identical wording.

20.  On 12 February 2004 a Department of Defense Form 215 was issued adding
the Purple Heart, and the other decorations which had been previously added
by the 1989 Department of Defense Form 215, to item 31 of the applicant’s
original separation document.  The 1999 Department of Defense Form 215,
also added a statement to item 32 reflecting the date and location of the
applicant’s combat wound.

21.  The copy of the General Order, which appears to have been the basis
for determining the date the applicant was wounded, and may also have been
the source for authorizing issuance of the Silver Star, contains several
different type faces, numerous typographical and grammatical errors, and an
entry indicating “Battle field promotion during Combat. Fifth Grade” in
parentheses above the narrative.  The source of that document is never
identified, or confirmed, and contains the handwritten notation “Veteran
contends that this document was misplaced in the wrong C-file” at the
bottom.  The appearance of the order and accompanying citation is
inconsistent with other original orders, from the World War II era, which
have been available to the Board in other cases.

22.  Army Regulation 635-5, which establishes the policies and procedures
for the preparation of separation documents, including the Department of
Defense Form 215, states that the Department of Defense Form 215 may be
issued to correct, add, or delete information from an original separation
document.

23.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple
Heart is awarded for wounds 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.

24.  By the end of 1942 the rank structure of the Army consisted of master
sergeant/first sergeant (first grade), technical sergeant (second grade),
staff sergeant/technician (third grade), sergeant/technician (fourth
grade), corporal/technician (fifth grade), and private first class (sixth
grade).  The pay grade of E-8, as associated with the rank of master
sergeant, did not come into existence until 1958.

25.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 states that the Expert Infantryman Badge may
be awarded to personnel in the infantry career management field after
completion of a prescribed program and passing a proficiency test.  There
is no automatic entitlement to the badge merely by holding or performing
duties in an infantry specialty.

26.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 states that the Silver Star is awarded for
gallantry in action against the enemy.  The required gallantry (spirited
and conspicuous acts of heroism and courage) must have been performed with
marked distinction. As with all personal decorations, formal
recommendations, approval through the chain of command, and announcement in
orders is required.  Authority to approve the Silver Star rested with the
Commanders of Army Forces serving in the rank of General and/or the Army
Chief of Staff.

27.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 states that the Bronze Star Medal was not
established until 4 February 1944.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  There is no basis for issuing a single Department of Defense Form 215
to reflect “all” of the applicant’s awards.  The awards that he is
authorized and which have been validated in appropriate Board actions, or
administratively recognized, are appropriately reflected on the Department
of Defense Form 215, which was issued in 2004.  There is no need to include
awards that were reflected on his original separation document.

2.  The applicant has not provided sufficient evidence to warrant
correcting any of his records to show that he was a master sergeant, E-8.
Not only did pay grade E-8 not come into existence until several years
after the applicant’s military service, there are sufficient documents,
including his 1943 Transcript From Enlisted Record, his final pay
statement, and one 1943 medical treatment document, all of which confirm
his grade as private.  The copy of a Military Order of the Purple Heart
Life Member Certificate and the single 1943 medical record, which
identifies him as a master sergeant, when considered against the other
documents that reflect his rank as private, are not sufficiently compelling
evidence to warrant correction of his separation document or subsequent
award certificates or orders.

3.  There is no medical evidence, and the applicant has not provided any,
which indicates that he is entitled to a second award of the Purple Heart.

4.  There is no evidence the applicant completed the prescribed program and
passed the proficiency test for award of the Expert Infantryman Badge.  In
the absence of such evidence, there is no basis for award of that badge.

5.  The fact that the Bronze Star Medal did not come into existence until
1944, one year after his discharge from the Army, it is unlikely that he
was ever told by a doctor that he would be receiving a Bronze Star Medal
and even more unlikely that he would have been awarded such a decoration
with a “V” device unless it was awarded retroactively after his military
service ended.  There is no evidence that such was the case.  The applicant
was awarded a Bronze Star Medal as a conversion award based on the Combat
Infantryman Badge, and his record now appropriately reflects that
decoration.

6.  The General Order, which the applicant has previously provided as
evidence of his entitlement to the Silver Star clearly contains a multitude
of inconsistencies, from the variety of typefaces to the glaring
typographic and grammatical errors contained in the narrative.  It is also
highly unlikely and questionable that a Station Hospital would have issued
such an order.  Additionally, information contained in the 1989 Board
proceedings, which clearly had access to more medical documents than are
currently available, including the fact that the applicant appears to have
been undergoing medical treatment

on 29 May 1943, the day he was to have accomplished his heroic actions,
further questions the validity of the General Order.  As such, in view of
the inconsistencies on the order and the inability to confirm the
applicant’s actions based on the other medical evidence which has been
available to the Board, it would be inappropriate to validate the
applicant’s entitlement to the Silver Star without more compelling evidence
that he was in fact recommended for and awarded the decoration.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___WP__  ___RW __  ___LH __  DENY APPLICATION

BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

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.





                                  _____ William Powers_________
                                            CHAIRPERSON



                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20040002754                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20050331                                |
|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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