RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:        3 October 2006
      DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20060003468


      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. W. W. Osborn, Jr.             |     |Analyst              |

      The following members, a quorum, were present:

|     |Mr. Kenneth L. Wright             |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. Thomas M. Ray                 |     |Member               |
|     |Ms. Sherry J. Stone               |     |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 for wounds sustained
in Germany in February 1945.

2.  The applicant states that he was wounded in the lower back and both
hips while crossing the Roer River on 22 February 1945.  He was evacuated
to Paris and then to England.  He was presented the Purple Heart in the
Army Hospital in Oxford, England but it did not get entered on his
discharge document, WD AGO Form 53-54 (Enlisted Record and Report of
Separation – Honorable Discharge).  He never noticed it before because he
had no need of help from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).  He
points out that that his wounds are noted in Item 34 of the discharge
document.

3.  The applicant provides his personal statement, his WD AGO 53-55, and a
23 May 1949 letter from the VA.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant is requesting correction of an alleged error or injustice
which occurred on 22 January 1946.  The application submitted in this case
is dated 1 March 2006.

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 on 24 August 1942 and departed for the
European Theater of Operations in November 1944.  He returned to the United
States in January 1946 and was separated with an honorable discharge due to
demobilization on 22 January 1946.

4.  His WD AGO Form 53-55 shows the following:

      a.  Item 31 (Military Qualifications) – “Combat Infantryman Badge,
Rifle MM”;

      b.  Item 32 (Battles and Campaigns) – “Rhineland Campaign”;

      c.  Item 33 (Decorations and Citations) – “American Theater Ribbon;
EAME Theater Ribbon w/1 Bronze Star; Good Conduct Ribbon; Victory Medal”
and;

      d.  Item (34 Wounds Received in Action) – “Germany February 1945.”

5.  A health record research project, commonly referred to as the "SGO
Files", involved transposing the hospital admission card data from the
periods of World War II and the Korean conflict onto magnetic tape.  In
1988 the National Research Council made these tape files available to the
National Personnel Records Center (NPRC).  The availability of the
information to the NPRC received considerable publicity by the various
veterans service organizations.  It was widely believed that these tapes
would become a valuable substitute for the records lost in the NPRC fire of
1973.

6.  Searches of the SGO Files produced a record showing the applicant was
an infantryman when he was admitted, as a battle casualty, to a hospital in
Northern Europe on 24 February 1945 with penetrating shell fragment wounds
to the buttock and hip.

7.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part,
that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained while in action
against an enemy or 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.

8.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part,
that the Bronze Star Medal is awarded for heroism and for meritorious
achievement or service in military operations against an armed enemy.  The
Bronze Star Medal is authorized for each individual who was cited in orders
or awarded a certificate for exemplary conduct in ground combat between
7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945 or whose achievement or service,
during that period, was confirmed by documents executed prior to 1 July
1947.  An award of the Combat
Infantryman Badge or the Combat Medical Badge is considered to be a
citation in orders.  Therefore, the Bronze Star Medal is to be awarded to
individuals who were authorized either badge for service during World War
II.

9.  World War II holders of the Combat Infantryman Badge received a monthly
pay supplement known as combat infantry pay. Therefore, Soldiers had
economic as well as intangible reasons to ensure that their records were
correct. Thus, pay records are frequently the best available source to
verify entitlement to this award.

10.  The applicant’s Final Payments Work Sheet confirms that he was
authorized Combat Infantry Pay.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The SGO Files show that, in February 1945, the applicant was
hospitalized for wounds sustained as the result of enemy action.  He is
entitled to an award of the Purple Heart.

2.  The applicant is authorized award of the Bronze Star Medal based upon
receipt of the Combat Infantryman Badge.

3.  Records show the applicant should have discovered the alleged error or
injustice now under consideration on 22 January 1946.  However, the ABCMR
was not established until 2 January 1947.  Therefore, the time for the
applicant to file a request for correction of any error or injustice
expired on 1 January 1950.  The applicant did not file within the 3-year
statute of limitations; however, based on the available evidence, it would
be in the interest of justice to excuse failure to timely file in this
case.

BOARD VOTE:

__KLW__  __SJS___  _TMR___  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 awarding him the Purple Heart for
wounds sustained as the result of enemy action in February 1945 and the
Bronze Star Medal based on award of the Combat Infantryman Badge.




                            __      Kenneth L. Wright______
                                      CHAIRPERSON



                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20060003468                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |                                        |
|DATE BOARDED            |20061003                                |
|TYPE OF DISCHARGE       |                                        |
|DATE OF DISCHARGE       |                                        |
|DISCHARGE AUTHORITY     |                                        |
|DISCHARGE REASON        |                                        |
|BOARD DECISION          |GRANT                                   |
|REVIEW AUTHORITY        |                                        |
|ISSUES         1.       |                                        |
|107.00                  |                                        |
|2.                      |                                        |
|3.                      |                                        |
|4.                      |                                        |
|5.                      |                                        |
|6.                      |                                        |


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