RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:                 28 FEBRUARY 2006
      DOCKET NUMBER:         AR20050005652


      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. Jessie B. Strickland          |     |Analyst              |

      The following members, a quorum, were present:

|     |Mr. Hubert Fry                    |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Ms. Carol Kornhoff                |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. John Miller                   |     |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 he be paid quarters allowances from 21
August 1947, for a period of 2 years.

2.  The applicant states that he married his wife, a Japanese citizen, on
21 August 1947, and he did not receive any quarters allowance from the Army
for 2 years, despite his repeated attempts to obtain the allowances.

3.  The applicant provides a letter from his brother-in-law attesting that
the applicant and his wife lived with his parents for 2 years after their
marriage   (1947 – 1949).

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant is requesting correction of an alleged injustice which
occurred on 31 August 1968.  The application submitted in this case was
received on
5 April 2005.

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 in Baltimore, Maryland, on 10 April 1946 and
enlisted in the Regular Army on 11 April 1946 for 1 1/2 years, which was
subsequently extended to 3 years under War Department Circular 214 – 1946.

4.  He completed his basic combat training at Fort Eustis, Virginia, and
was transferred to Fort Lawton, Washington, where he remained until he was
shipped to Japan.  He arrived in Japan on 1 September 1946.  He was
advanced to the rank of corporal (E-4) on 2 June 1947 and his records
indicate that he was married on 21 August 1947.

5.  On 12 April 1949, while serving as a cook with the 558th Engineer Dump
Truck Company, he reenlisted for a period of 5 years.  He was promoted to
the pay grade of E-5 on 20 September 1949 and he remained in Japan until
11 December 1951, when he was transferred to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to
serve as the first cook of the officers open mess.

6.  He was promoted to the pay grade of E-6 (Sergeant First Class/E-6 at
that time) on 20 November 1953 and to the pay grade of E-7 on 26 August
1966.  Due to a grade conversion that occurred on 1 June 1958, Sergeant
First Class became the grade of E-7.

7.  He remained on active duty through a series of continuous reenlistments
until he was honorably released from active duty in the pay grade of E-7 on
31 August 1968 and was placed on the Retired List effective 1 September
1968.  He had served 22 years, 4 months, and 20 days of total active
service.

8.  The entitlement of specific enlisted personnel to commutations and
quarters allowance before 1940 was determined on whether they did or did
not occupy Government quarters.  The first legislative recognition that
enlisted personnel in the highest three pay grades who had dependents were
entitled to public quarters, or a cash allowance in lieu of quarters,
appeared in the Pay Readjustment Act of October 17, 1940, and was
subsequently given more formal as well as more permanent recognition in the
Pay Readjustment Act of 1942.  The principle that all enlisted personnel
should be entitled to public quarters or a cash substitute and the related
principle that certain grades of enlisted personnel should be entitled to
quarters adequate to house themselves and their dependents, or a cash
substitute, were continued in the Career Compensation Act of 1949, approved
on 12 October 1949, and the source of present Basic Allowance for Quarters
(BAQ) authority.  The Career Compensation Act slightly expanded the
category of enlisted personnel entitled to dependent housing to include
“career” members instead of just members in the three highest pay grades (E-
5 to E-7).  The Act authorized payment of BAQ at the rate of $45.00 a
month, regardless of grade, to all enlisted members without dependents when
Government quarters were not available.  The Act also provided that, for
BAQ purposes, members in pay grades E-1 through E-4 (with less than 7 years
of service) were at all times to be considered without dependents,
regardless of actual dependency status.  Members in pay grades E-4 (with 7
or more years of service) through E-7 with dependents were entitled to BAQ
at the rate of $67.50 per month when not assigned to Government quarters
that were adequate for both themselves and their dependents.





DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

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

2.  The applicant’s contention that he was unjustly denied BAQ for a 2-year
period beginning on 21 August 1947, when he got married, has been noted and
it appears to be without merit.

3.  The law in effect at the time the applicant was married provided, in
pertinent part, that only enlisted personnel with dependents serving in the
top three pay grades of E-5 through E-7 was entitled to allowance for
quarters.  The applicant was promoted to the pay grade of E-4 on 2 June
1947 and it was not until
20 September 1949, 2 years after his marriage, that he was promoted to the
pay grade of E-5 and would have become entitled to quarters allowance.

4.  However, less than a month later, the Career Compensation Act of 1949
was approved on 12 October 1949, which essentially created the current BAQ
authority and expanded it to all enlisted pay grades.

5.  Accordingly, it appears that he was paid in accordance with the
applicable laws and regulations in effect at the time and there appears to
be no basis to approve his request.

6.  Records show the applicant should have discovered the alleged error or
injustice now under consideration on 31 August 1968; therefore, the time
for the applicant to file a request for correction of any error or
injustice expired on
30 August 1971.  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 failure to
timely file in this case.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

____HF _  ____CK _  ___JM___  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.




                                  _____Hubert Fry_________________
                                            CHAIRPERSON



                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR                                      |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |                                        |
|DATE BOARDED            |20060228                                |
|TYPE OF DISCHARGE       |HD                                      |
|DATE OF DISCHARGE       |19670312                                |
|DISCHARGE AUTHORITY     |10 USC 5914                             |
|DISCHARGE REASON        |RETIREMENT                              |
|BOARD DECISION          |DENY                                    |
|REVIEW AUTHORITY        |AR 15-185                               |
|ISSUES         1.128    |128.1200 BAQ W/Dependent Allowance      |
|2.                      |                                        |
|3.                      |                                        |
|4.                      |                                        |
|5.                      |                                        |
|6.                      |                                        |


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