IN THE CASE OF:	  

	BOARD DATE:	  5 June 2008

	DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20080004623 


THE BOARD CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING EVIDENCE:

1.  Application for correction of military records (with supporting documents provided, if any).

2.  Military Personnel Records and advisory opinions (if any).


THE APPLICANT'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant requests award of the Combat Medical Badge and the Bronze Star Medal based on award of the Combat Medical Badge.

2.  The applicant states that based on his affiliation with the 322nd Medical Battalion, 97th Infantry Division, and the fact that he took enemy fire in Germany during World War II (WW II), he believes he is eligible for award of the Combat Medical Badge and that based on this award, he is also eligible for award of the Bronze Star Medal.

3.  The applicant provides the following additional documentary evidence in support of his application:

	a.  WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation-Honorable Discharge), dated 22 February 1946.

	b.  WD AGO Form 100 (Separation Qualification Record), dated
22 February 1946.

	c.  Undated photograph, in military uniform, displaying the 97th Infantry Division patch.

	d.  Undated extract of an Internet article, brief history of the 97th Infantry Division.

	e.  Department of the Army Policy Memorandum, dated 15 July 2004, Policy Changes to the Combat Medical Badge.

	f.  Extract of an Internet article, dated 23 February 2008, eligibility for award of the Bronze Star Medal based on award of the Combat Medical Badge.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  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 also allows the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to excuse an applicant’s failure to timely file within the 3-year statute of limitations if the ABCMR determines it would be in the interest of justice to do so.  While it appears the applicant did not file within the time frame provided in the statute of limitations, the ABCMR has elected to conduct a substantive review of this case and, only to the extent relief, if any, is granted, has determined it is in the interest of justice to excuse the applicant’s failure to timely file.  In all other respects, there are insufficient bases to waive the statute of limitations for timely filing.

2.  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.

3.  The applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he was inducted into the Army of the United States on 23 February 1943 and entered active duty on 2 March 1943 in military occupational specialty (MOS) 861 (Surgical Technician).  This form also shows that he was assigned to Company D, 322nd Medical Battalion.

4.  The applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 further shows he served in the European-African-Middle Eastern (EAME) Theater during the period 2 March 1945 through 16 June 1945 and in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during the period 24 September 1945 through to his return to the United States on 15 February 1946.

5.  The applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he completed 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days of continental service and 9 months and 21 days of foreign service.  He was honorably separated on 22 February 1946.

6.  Item 31 (Military Qualification and Date) does not show award of the Combat Medical Badge.

7.  Item 32 (Battles and Campaigns) shows that the applicant participated in the Rhineland campaign of WW II.

8.  Item 33 (Decorations and Citations) of the applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows the applicant was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze service star.  Item 33 does not show award of the Combat Medical Badge or the Bronze Star Medal. 

9.  There are no Special Orders in the applicant’s reconstructed record that shows he was awarded the Combat Medical Badge.  

10.  The applicant's WD AGO Form 100 shows that he served as a surgical technician in both the European and Pacific Theaters with the 322nd Medical Battalion.  He initially worked as a ward attendant in a clearing station for wounded men from the front, taking temperatures, pulse and respiration, administering medications, and conducting minor first aid treatments.  He later went into an emergency surgery ward where he gave first aid to men as they were brought in.  He administered plasma, stopped bleeding, cared for amputations, and dressed wounds.  He also aided doctors in all necessary operations at station hospital; prepared operating rooms and surgical instruments for use; sterilized all equipment; assisted in administration of hypodermics and anesthetics, and handed instruments and materials to doctors.  

11.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part, that the Combat Medical Badge (CIB) may be awarded to members of the Army Medical Department (Colonels and below), the Naval Medical Department (Captains and below), the Air Force Medical Service (Colonels and below), assigned or attached by appropriate orders to an infantry unit of brigade, regimental, or smaller size, or to a medical unit of company or smaller size, organic to an infantry unit of brigade or smaller size, during any period the infantry unit is engaged in actual ground combat on or after 6 December 1941.  Battle participation credit alone is not sufficient; the infantry unit must have been in contact with the enemy.  Eligibility for the CMB was further expanded to include: 

	a.  Effective 19 December 1989, special forces personnel possessing military occupational specialty (MOS) 18D (Special Operations Medical Sergeant) who satisfactorily perform medical duties while assigned or attached to a Special Forces unit during any period the unit is engaged in active ground combat, provided they are personally present and under fire.  Retroactive awards under these criteria are not authorized prior to 19 December 1989.
	
	b.  Effective 16 January 1991, medical personnel assigned or attached to armor and ground cavalry units of brigade or smaller size, who satisfactorily perform medical duties while the unit is engaged in actual ground combat, provided they are personally present and under fire.  Retroactive awards under these criteria are not authorized prior to 16 January 1991.

	c.  Effective 11 September 2001, medical personnel assigned or attached to or under operational control of any ground Combat Arms units (not to include members assigned or attached to Aviation units) of brigade or smaller size, who satisfactorily perform medical duties while the unit is engaged in actual ground combat, provided they are personally present and under fire.  Retroactive awards under these criteria are not authorized prior to 11 September 2001.

12.  Originally established as the Medical Badge, the CMB was created by the War Department on 1 March 1945.  It could be awarded to officers, warrant officers, and enlisted Soldiers of the Medical Department assigned or attached to the medical detachment of infantry regiments, infantry battalions, and elements thereof designated as infantry in tables of organization or tables of organization and equipment.  Its evolution stemmed from a requirement to recognize medical aid men who shared the same hazards and hardships of ground combat on a daily basis with the infantry Soldier.  Though established almost a year and a half after the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB), it could be awarded retroactively to 7 December 1941 to fully qualified personnel.

13.  Like the CIB, the Regimental Commander was the lowest level at which the CMB could be approved and it also carried with it a separate provision for enlisted badge holders to receive a $10 per month pay stipend.  The CMB was created as a "companion" badge to the CIB with criteria for its award intended to parallel that of the CIB.  It was designed to provide recognition to the field medic who accompanies the infantryman into battle and shares with the experiences unique to the infantry in combat.  There was never any intention to award the CMB to all medical personnel who serve in a combat zone or imminent danger area, that is, a division-level medical company supporting a maneuver brigade.  As with the CIB, the infantry unit to which the medical personnel are assigned or attached must engage the enemy in active ground combat.  Since inception, the intent of the Department of the Army regarding this requirement has been that medical personnel must be personally present and under fire in order to be eligible for the awarding of the badge.  So stringent was this requirement during the Vietnam era that recommending officials were required to document the place (in six digit coordinates), time, type, and intensity of fire to which the proposed recipient was exposed.  This fact naturally precludes the awarding of the badge to those medical personnel who accompany infantry units into a potential engagement area but do not come under enemy fire.

14.  Over the years, there has been some confusion concerning the phrase "...in direct support of an infantry unit...."  The CMB is intended for, and awarded to, those medical personnel who accompany the infantryman into combat.  The
Army has never approved of deviations from this purpose and its restrictive criteria.  During the World War II era, medical support for infantry units in combat was provided by the medical detachments and companies of battalions and regiments.  These medical personnel and units were termed direct support.  This concept lasted until Vietnam.  Today, medical personnel are assigned as organic personnel to infantry companies and are regarded as participants as opposed to being categorized as those providing direct medical support.  For example, medical personnel serving in division level medical companies, ground ambulance and medical clearing companies, mobile-Army surgical hospital (MASH), combat-support hospital (CSH), field hospitals, and aero-medical evacuation units are not eligible for the CMB.  The sole criteria that qualify medical personnel for award of the CMB is to be assigned or attached to an infantry unit engaged in active ground combat.  Medical personnel other than those medics organic to infantry units may qualify only if they serve as medical personnel accompanying infantrymen.  Conceivably, this could occur if an infantry unit lost all its medics and as a temporary or permanent measure medical personnel were attached to an infantry unit, but remained assigned to a hospital or other non-infantry unit.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant’s dedication to duty, professionalism, and sacrifices during WWII are well documented and are not in question.  However, there was never any regulatory intention to award the CMB to all medical personnel who served in a combat zone or imminent danger area.  Award of the CMB stemmed from a requirement to recognize the sacrifices of medical aid men who shared the same hazards and hardships of ground combat on a daily basis with the infantry.

2.  The evidence of record shows the applicant served as a medical specialist during his service in WW II.  He was assigned to D Company, 322nd Medical Battalion, which supported the 97th Infantry Division.  However, there is no evidence that shows he was assigned or attached by appropriate orders to an infantry unit of brigade, regimental, or smaller size, or to a medical unit of company or smaller size, organic to an infantry unit of brigade or smaller size, during any period the infantry unit was engaged in active ground combat.
3.  In order to justify correction of a military record, the applicant must show, or it must otherwise satisfactorily appear, that the record is in error or unjust.  Regretfully, there is insufficient evidence to award the applicant the Combat Medical Badge or the Bronze star Medal in this case.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

__xxx___  __xxx___  __xxx___  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.


								XXX
      _______________________
      	CHAIRPERSON
      
I certify that herein is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in this case.

ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20080004623



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20080004623



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