RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:            21 OCTOBER 04
      DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2004104991


      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. James Anderholm               |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Ms. Deborah Jacobs                |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. Ronald Weaver                 |     |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 that his record be corrected to show his rank as
second lieutenant when he was discharged in 1944.

2.  The applicant states that he attended officer candidate school (OCS) at
Camp Davis, North Carolina.  He returned late for graduation from a one-day
leave and was given house arrest for one week.  A lieutenant colonel
advised him that his insignia of rank and diploma would be awarded at a
later date; however, the lieutenant colonel was transferred, and he
received no insignia of rank or diploma.  After OCS he was assigned to a
motor pool.  He ate in the officers' mess, but was still receiving
private's pay.  He was transferred to Camp Hulen, Texas, but no records
were forwarded regarding the change in his rank and the pay due him.  The
Army failed to grant him the rank and pay that was due to him for
successfully completing OCS.

3.  The applicant provides correspondence from a Member of Congress (MC)
concerning his request.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  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.

2.  A certification of military service, prepared at St. Louis, Missouri on
              11 February 1980 shows that the applicant was a member of the
Army of the United States from 18 March 1943 until his discharge under
other than honorable conditions in the rank of private on 9 July 1944.

3.  A final payment roll prepared at the 1273d SCSU [?] Fort Dix, New
Jersey Separation Center on 9 July 1944 shows that the applicant was
transferred as a private from the 527th AAA AW Battalion at Camp Hulen,
Texas on 30 June 1944.

4.  Information from a hospital admission card for the year 1944 created by
the Office of The Surgeon General shows that the applicant, then 21 years
old with  1 year and 4 months of service, was admitted to the station
hospital at Fort Dix in July 1944, and that his condition was diagnosed as
emotional instability, a condition which existed prior to his service; and
that he was discharged for traumatism, under the provisions of Army
Regulation 615-360, Section VIII.

5.  On 5 August 1996 the applicant applied to this Board requesting that
his discharge under other than honorable conditions be upgraded to
honorable.   The Board indicated that the provisions of the regulation
under which the applicant was discharged, in effect at that time, provided
for the discharge of enlisted personnel who had demonstrated inaptness or
undesirable traits of character which caused them to be undesirable for
continued service, but that the discharge that he received did not include
a characterization of service.  The Board also indicated that subsequent
regulations provided for characterizations of service under honorable
conditions.  The Board concluded that the applicant's discharge was not
characterized; however, administrative regularity was presumed in the
processing of his discharge.  Nonetheless, the Board in considering the
time that had elapsed since his discharge, the regulatory changes that had
occurred, and his good post service conduct and accomplishments, corrected
his record to show that he was separated from the Army with an honorable
discharge on 9 July 1944.  On 10 October 1997 he was issued an Honorable
Discharge Certificate.

6.  In a 10 October 2003 response to his initial request to correct his
records to show that he was separated as a second lieutenant, this agency
informed the applicant that because of the lack of documentation, the Board
could not make a decision on his application, in that his records were
probably destroyed in the 1973 fire at St. Louis.  He was also informed
that his records failed to show that he completed 90 days of schooling
during his period of service.  His case was closed without action.

7.  In this, his current request to the Board, the applicant has yet failed
to show that he completed or that he attended OCS, or that he was entitled
to the rank and pay of a second lieutenant.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Whether or not the applicant completed or attended OCS at Camp Davis,
as he contends, is unknown.  There is no evidence and the applicant has not
submitted any in this regard, nor has he provided any evidence to show that
he was entitled to the rank and pay of a second lieutenant.  The evidence
shows that the applicant was discharged in the rank of private.

2.  Consequently, there is no basis to correct the applicant's records as
he requests.
3.  The applicant has submitted neither probative evidence nor a convincing
argument in support of his request.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___JA  __  ___DB   _  ___RW__  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.





            ___ James Anderholm_____
                    CHAIRPERSON




                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR2004104991                            |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20041021                                |
|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.       |102.00                                  |
|2.                      |                                        |
|3.                      |                                        |
|4.                      |                                        |
|5.                      |                                        |
|6.                      |                                        |


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