RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:        26 October 2006
      DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20060003587


      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:

|     |Ms. Marla J. N. Troup             |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. Robert Rogers                 |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. John G. Heck                  |     |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.

2.  The applicant states that his receipt of the Purple Heart should be
entered into his permanent record.  He reports that he was injured in
France and taken to a military hospital.  He was then moved to a hospital
in Bristol, England and then to the United States.  He relates that he
received the Purple Heart but does not have the documentation.  He hopes
that records can be located to show that he was wounded.

3.  The applicant provides copies of his WD AGO Form 100 (Army Separation
Qualification Record), WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of
Separation Honorable Discharge), a letter explaining the facts of the case,
a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Authorization and Release of
Information form, a 6 June 1994 Certificate of Honor from the Federation of
French War Veterans, an enlargement of a photocopy of a Purple Heart medal
on the left side of a Jewish War Veterans cap, the reverse of the same
Purple Heart medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge on the right side of the
cap, the envelope and a 17 May 1946 letter to the applicant from a comrade-
in-arms, a 24 January 2006 letter thanking a Major H____ for his
assistance, a photocopy of a  Purple Heart medal on the left side of a
Jewish War Veterans cap, a 19 May 1945 letter from the VA awarding the
applicant a service connected disability benefit of 50 percent for a
nervous condition, a Class “A” Pass card that expired 10 December 1944, and
a Dependents pass dated 17 July 1944.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant is requesting correction of an alleged error or injustice
which occurred on 19 April 1945, the date of his discharge.  The
application submitted in this case is dated 24 January 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’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.  In addition to
the documents he submitted, the available documents consist of his Final
Payment Roll and Work Sheet and an Office of the Surgeon General (SGO) File
Report, dated August 1944.

4.  The applicant entered active duty on 18 December 1943.  He departed for
the European Theater of Operations on 5 September 1944 and returned to the
United States on 12 February 1945.

5.  His WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he served in Company B, 324th Infantry
Regiment, 44th Infantry Division during the Northern France Campaign.  He
was qualified as a Combat Infantryman [confirmed by the Final Payment
Worksheet]. His authorized awards are indicated, in item 33, as the
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze service
star, the Good Conduct Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.  Item 34
(Wounds Received in Action) states, “None.”  On 19 April 1945, the
applicant was separated on a Certificate of Disability for Discharge (CDD).
 He was issued a Lapel Button.

6.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part,
that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound 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.

7.  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.

8.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 also authorizes a bronze service star, based
on qualifying service, for each campaign listed in Appendix B of this
regulation or listed in item 32 (Battles and Campaigns) of the WD AGO Form
53-55.  This regulation states that authorized bronze service stars will be
worn on the appropriate campaign or service medal including the European-
African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal.

9.  Army Pamphlet 672-1 (Unit Citation and Campaign Participation Credit
Register) shows that during the applicant’s tenure with the 324th Infantry
in Europe the regiment was credited with participation in the Ardennes-
Alsace, Northern France, and Rhineland Campaigns.

10.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent
part, for award of the World War II Victory Medal.  It is awarded for
service between 7 December 1941 and 31 December 1946, both dates inclusive.

11.  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.  Unfortunately, the only SGO records available in the applicant’s
case show he was hospitalized before he deployed to Europe.

12.  A search of the unit morning reports for the applicant’s company shows
that, on 4 December 1944, he was lost to the 51st Station Hospital from a
sick in quarters status with the 616th Clearing Company due to an
unidentified condition that was incurred in the line of duty.

13.  Another entry on the same morning report shows that another Soldier
was recorded as “DY to sk in qrs LD (119th Med Bn Clr Sta) NBC (Trench
Foot).”  This means he was administratively transferred from duty to a sick
in quarters status with the clearing station of the 119th Medical
Battalion.  He was a non-battle casualty (NBC) due to trench foot that had
occurred in the line of duty.

14.  The morning report entries at the time made extensive use of
abbreviations. "SK in hosp LD” meant sick in a hospital due to a condition
that was incurred in the line of duty "SK in hosp LWA”, meant the Soldier
was hospitalized because he had been lightly wounded in action.  “SWA”
meant slightly wounded in action. A line of duty determination was not
normally entered for battle casualties since it was unnecessary because
battle casualties were normally identified as such.  Cases in which there
might be confusion, such as with trench foot during the
“Battle of the Bulge” or a Soldier who sustained a fragment wound because
of accidental detonation of live ammunition, were identified as “BC” for
battle casualty or “NBC” for non-battle casualty, as appropriate.

15.  The 17 May 1945 letter from a comrade-in-arms indicated that it is a
response to the applicant’s letter to Stan.  Stan related that they last
met either on a train or at an aid station when the applicant was being
“evacuated because of concussion.”  Stan continued that the applicant never
returned to the unit but that he, himself, had done so 2 months later.  He
then related what had happened to various individuals in the company.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Unfortunately, the 1946 letter from the comrade-in-arms is the only
indication that the applicant sustained a concussion.  This does not meet
the regulatory criteria for award of the Purple Heart, because enemy origin
and medical treatment must both be a matter of record.

2.  The available VA documents do not help substantiate the case.  If the
applicant believes the VA may have service medical records that show he was
treated for a concussion sustained as the result of enemy action, he should
obtain copies and submit them here with a request for reconsideration of
this case.

3.  The applicant is authorized awards that may be administratively added
to his record.  These include:

      a.  the Bronze Star Medal based on the Combat Infantryman Badge;

      b.  credit for participation in and bronze service stars for the
      Ardennes-Alsace and Rhineland Campaigns; and

      c.  the World War II Victory Medal.

4.  Evidence shows that the applicant’s records contain administrative
error which does not require action by the Board.  Therefore,
administrative correction of the applicant’s records will be accomplished
by the Case Management Support Division (CMSD), St. Louis, Missouri, as
outlined by the Board in paragraph 3 of the BOARD
DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION section below.

5.  Records show the applicant should have discovered the alleged error or
injustice now under consideration on 19 April 1945, the date of the
discharge. However, the ABCMR was not established until 2 January 1947.
Therefore, the time for the FSM 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 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

__RR ___  _MJNT__  _JGH ___  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.

3.  The Board determined that administrative error in the records of the
individual should be corrected.  Therefore, the Board requests that the
CMSD-St. Louis administratively correct the records of the individual
concerned to change his WD AGO Form 53-55 by:

      a.  adding, in item 32 (Battles and Campaigns), “Ardennes-Alsace and
Rhineland;”



b.  deleting, in item 33 (Decorations and Citations), “European-African-
Middle Eastern Theater Ribbon; One Bronze Battle Star;” and


      c.  adding, in item 33, “Bronze Star Medal” and  “European-African-
Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze service stars.”




                                  _       Marla J. N. Troup_____
                                            CHAIRPERSON



                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20060003587                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |                                        |
|DATE BOARDED            |20061026                                |
|TYPE OF DISCHARGE       |                                        |
|DATE OF DISCHARGE       |                                        |
|DISCHARGE AUTHORITY     |                                        |
|DISCHARGE REASON        |                                        |
|BOARD DECISION          |DENY                                    |
|REVIEW AUTHORITY        |                                        |
|ISSUES         1.       |                                        |
|107.00                  |                                        |
|2.                      |                                        |
|3.                      |                                        |
|4.                      |                                        |
|5.                      |                                        |
|6.                      |                                        |


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