RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:        12 APRIL 2005
      DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20040004359


      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. John Slone                    |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Ms. Shirley Powell                |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. Curtis Greenway               |     |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 reconsideration of his request for award of the
Purple Heart.

2.  The applicant states that after 59 years he was able to locate his
“lieutenant” and asked that his “claim” be reopened.  He states that the
Purple Heart is very important to him and that he wants people to know that
he served his country and “gave some of [himself] to it.”

3.  The applicant provides a copy of a 10 July 2004 statement from his
lieutenant.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  Incorporated herein by reference are military records which were
summarized in the previous consideration of the applicant's case by the
Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) in Docket Number
AR2003091778, on
24 June 2004.

2.  The applicant’s request was received within 1 year of his original
consideration and contains a new statement.  Additionally, his file
contained a June 2004 statement that the files of the National Archives in
College Park, Maryland, had been reviewed.  However, the results of that
review were not discussed in the Board’s original proceedings.
Reconsideration is warranted.

3.  The 21 June 2004 statement indicates that the historical files of the
297th Combat Engineers, the applicant’s unit of assignment during the
period in question, were reviewed and failed to show that the applicant was
ever awarded the Purple Heart or that he was entitled to such an award.

4.  The statement from the applicant’s former lieutenant was signed on 10
July 2004.  The statement notes that the unit was under heavy artillery
fire during “The Battle of St. Lo. France” and that the applicant was
wounded in combat due to enemy action.  The statement is nearly identical
in wording to a statement from another member of the applicant’s unit,
which was considered during the original Board proceedings.

5.  Also included with the original application, but not discussed in the
original proceedings, was a 19 February 1947 document from the Department
of Veterans Affairs which indicated that the applicant was awarded
disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs for his
“nervous condition” and his “flat feet condition,” which the Department of
Veterans Affairs determined were incurred or aggravated during the
applicant’s “war service.”  By September 2000 the Department of Veterans
Affairs increased the applicant’s rating for “anxiety reaction” to 50
percent.

6.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 specifically prohibits award of the Purple
Heart for battle fatigue, disease not directly caused by enemy agents, and
posttraumatic stress disorders.

7.  Additionally, in what appears to be an extract from a recollection of
the 297th Engineer Battalion unit history, also included with the
applicant’s original application, it notes that on the evening of 21 July
1944:

      a few German shells came over.  The first salvo didn’t do any
      damage…but then they started coming over with devastating regularity
      and precision.  Every man in the area felt that his own foxhole had
      received a direct hit and was caving in on him at the terrific
      explosion caused by a direct hit on 11,000 pounds of TNT that the
      298th Engrs. had stored in the area.  Additional explosions and fires
      were caused by shrapnel hitting some of the trucks loaded with mines,
      ammunition and explosives.  The 297th was fortunate in not loosing a
      single truck, but some of us had some uneasy moments thinking about
      the 7000 anti-tank mines which we were carrying for the 1st Division.


8.  The document does not indicate that the applicant was wounded during he
event.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Unfortunately, there continues to be no medical evidence which confirms
that the applicant was wounded in action and in the absence of such
evidence a statement, rendered more than 60 years after the fact, does not
serve as sufficient evidence on which to base an award of the Purple Heart.

2.  The applicant’s subsequent award of disability compensation by the
Department of Veterans Affairs based on the applicant’s nervous condition
and flat feet is also not a basis to award him the Purple Heart.

3.  Not only is the source of the unit history recollection not known, even
as written it does not confirm that the applicant was wounded during the
events of 21 July 1944.


4.  The fact that the historical files of the applicant’s unit also failed
to confirm that the applicant was wounded as a result of hostile further
supports a conclusion that in the absence of more compelling medical
evidence, an award of the Purple Heart based solely on statements provided
by the applicant, would be inappropriate.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___JS___  ___SP __  ___CG __  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 to amend the decision of
the ABCMR set forth in Docket Number AR2003091778, dated 24 June 2004.




                                  ______  John Slone_________
                                            CHAIRPERSON



                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20040004359                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20050412                                |
|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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