RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:        3 July 2007
      DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20070001225


      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.

|     |Ms. Catherine C. Mitrano          |     |Director             |
|     |Mrs. Nancy L. Amos                |     |Analyst              |

      The following members, a quorum, were present:

|     |Mr. Eric N. Anderson              |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. Scott W. Faught               |     |Member               |
|     |Ms. Ernestine I. Fields           |     |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 Combat Infantryman Badge and the
Purple Heart.

2.  The applicant states he should be awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge
based on the fact he was in battle on 15 March 1945 in or near Lorscheid or
Norscheid, Germany with Company E, 60th Infantry.  He also states that he
was discharged without a Purple Heart.

3.  The applicant provides a 3 November 2006 letter from the National
Personnel Records Center; a Certification of Military Service; his WD AGO
Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation and Honorable
Discharge); and the cover page to a book or other document entitled, Eight
Stars to Victory, A History of the Veteran Ninth U. S. Infantry Division.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant is requesting correction of an alleged error or injustice
which occurred on 22 August 1945.  The application submitted in this case
is dated    16 January 2007.

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.  However, there
were sufficient documents remaining in a reconstructed record for the Board
to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case.

4.  The applicant was inducted into the Army on 14 June 1943 and entered
active duty on 28 June 1943.  He arrived in the European-African-Middle
Eastern Theater of Operations on 18 February 1945.

5.  An Office of The Surgeon General Hospital Admission Card indicates the
applicant was hospitalized on 15 March 1945 with a diagnosis of
psychoneurosis, anxiety.

6.  The applicant departed the theater of operations on 20 April 1945.  He
was discharged with a certificate of disability on 22 August 1945.  His WD
AGO Form 53-55 shows his branch as Infantry, his organization as Company E,
60th Infantry Regiment, and his military occupational specialty as 641,
field lineman.  It also shows he served 1 year and 11 months of continental
[United States] service.  Item 34 (Wounds Received in Action) contains the
entry, “Eur Afr Mid   E T 15 Mar 1945.”

7.  The Final Payment Roll on which the applicant appeared does not show
that he received Combat Infantryman Pay.

8.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) states 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.

9.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 states the Combat Infantryman Badge was
established during World War II to provide special recognition of the
unique role of the Army infantryman, the only Soldier whose daily mission
is to close with and destroy the enemy and to seize and hold terrain.  The
badge was intended as an inducement for individuals to join the infantry
while serving as a morale booster for infantrymen.  There are basically
three requirements for award of the CIB.  The Soldier must be an
infantryman satisfactorily performing infantry duties, must be assigned to
an infantry unit during such time as the unit is engaged in active ground
combat, and must actively participate in such ground combat.

10.  War Department Circular Number 408, Expert and Combat Infantryman
Badges, Award, and Additional Pay, dated 17 October 1944 cited Public Law
393, 78th Congress, approved 30 June 1944, which provided that during the
war and for 6 months thereafter any enlisted man of the combat ground
forces of the Army who was entitled to wear the CIB would be paid
additional compensation at the rate of $10 per month.  Thus, pay records
are frequently the best available source to verify entitlement to this
award.  The Military Awards Branch of the U.S. Army Human Resources Command
has advised in similar cases that, during World War II, the CIB was
normally awarded only to enlisted individuals who served in the following
positions:

    a.  Light machine gunner (604)
    b.  Heavy machine gunner (605)
    c.  Platoon sergeant (651)
    d.  Squad leader (653)
    e.  Rifleman (745)
    f.  Automatic rifleman (746)
    g.  Heavy weapons NCO (812)
    h.  Gun crewman (864)

11.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides for award of the American Campaign
Medal.  This campaign medal is awarded for qualifying service in the
American Theater between 7 December 1941 and 2 March 1946.  Qualifying
service for this campaign medal includes permanent assignment outside the
continental United States but within the American Theater of Operations or
service within the continental United States for an aggregate period of one
year.

12.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides 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.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  It is acknowledged that the applicant’s branch was listed as infantry
on his WD AGO Form 53-55 and that he was assigned to the 60th Infantry
Regiment, although it does not indicate that he held an infantry military
occupational specialty at the time of his separation.

2.  However, as the applicant acknowledged, it appears he participated in
only one battle before being hospitalized.  There is no evidence of record
to show he was paid Combat Infantryman Pay.  Therefore, there is
insufficient evidence to show he met the eligibility criteria for award of
the CIB.

3.  It is acknowledged that item 34 of the applicant’s WD AGO Form 53-55
shows he was wounded on 15 March 1945.  However, an Office of The Surgeon
General Hospital Admission Card indicates the applicant was hospitalized on
   15 March 1945 with a diagnosis of psychoneurosis, anxiety, and not with
a battle injury.  There is no evidence of record to show the applicant was
wounded in action, and he provides no explanation or evidence of how he was
wounded.  Therefore, the entry on his WD AGO Form 53-55 is not accepted as
sufficient to show he met the eligibility criteria for award of the Purple
Heart.

4.  The applicant met the eligibility criteria for award of the American
Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.  These two awards should
be added to his WD AGO Form 53-55.
5.  Evidence shows that the applicant’s records contain administrative
errors which do 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 2 of the BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION section
below.

6.  Records show the applicant should have discovered the alleged error or
injustice now under consideration on 22 August 1945; therefore, the time
for the applicant to file a request for correction of any error or
injustice expired on           1 January 1950, 3 years after the Board was
established on 2 January 1947.  Although the applicant did not file within
the 3-year statute of limitations, it would be appropriate to waive failure
to timely file as there is no statute of limitations on requests for award
of the Purple Heart.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

__ena___  __swf___  __eif___  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.  The Board determined that administrative errors in the records of the
individual concerned should be corrected.  Therefore, the Board requests
that the CMSD-St. Louis administratively correct the records of the
individual concerned by adding the American Campaign Medal and the World
War II Victory Medal to his WD AGO Form 53-55.




                                  __Eric N. Anderson____
                                            CHAIRPERSON



                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20070001225                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |                                        |
|DATE BOARDED            |20070703                                |
|TYPE OF DISCHARGE       |                                        |
|DATE OF DISCHARGE       |                                        |
|DISCHARGE AUTHORITY     |                                        |
|DISCHARGE REASON        |                                        |
|BOARD DECISION          |DENY                                    |
|REVIEW AUTHORITY        |Ms. Mitrano                             |
|ISSUES         1.       |107.0015                                |
|2.                      |107.0111                                |
|3.                      |                                        |
|4.                      |                                        |
|5.                      |                                        |
|6.                      |                                        |


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