IN THE CASE OF:	

		BOARD DATE:	  23 September 2008

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20080007674 


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 Infantryman Badge, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Purple Heart.

2.  The applicant states that his records at the National Records Personnel Center (NRPC) were burned; however, he has recently collected documentation that proves he was in Germany during World War II (WWII).  He was knocked unconscious in an 88 mm mortar explosion and was transferred to the 298th Tent City Field Hospital in Liege, Belgium, where he was treated and was awarded the Purple Heart.

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 31 January 1946. 

	b.  WD AGO Form 100 (Separation Qualification Record), dated 1 February 1946. 

	c.  Applicant’s own chronological order of events.

	d.  WD AGO Form 21 (Enlistment Record), dated 1 February 1946.

	e.  Certificate, dated 23 December 1944, Completion of Infantry Training.

	f.  Morning Reports, dated 8 February 1945, 17 February 1945, and 19 February 1945. 

	g.  Headquarters, 312th Medical Battalion, After Action Report, dated 5 March 1945.  

	h.  WD AGO Form 38 (Report of Physical Examination of Enlisted Personnel Prior to Discharge, Release from Active Duty, or Retirement), dated 1 February 1946.

	i.  Undated newsprint extract from an unknown source. 

	j.  Letter, dated 24 March 2005, from the National Personnel Records Center

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 31 January 1946 WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he was inducted in the Army of the United States and entered active service on
21 August 1944 at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana.  He was trained in military occupational specialty (MOS) 056 (Postal Clerk).  This form also shows that at the time of his separation, he was assigned to the 1560th Service Command Unit (SCU), Reception Center (RC), at Camp Atterbury, Indiana.

4.  The applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 further shows he served in the European-African-Middle Eastern (EAME) Theater from 27 January 1945 to his return to the United States on 5 December 1945.

5.  The applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he completed 6 month and 23 days of continental service and 10 months and 18 days of foreign service.  He was honorably separated on 31 January 1946 for the purpose of immediate enlistment into the Regular Army.

6.  Item 31 (Military Qualifications and Date) of the applicant's WD AGO Form   53-55 shows he was awarded the Marksman Marksmanship Qualification Badge with Rifle Bar (M-1) and the 2nd Class Gunner [Marksman Marksmanship Qualification] Badge with Machinegun Bar.  Item 31 does not show award of the Combat Infantryman Badge.

7.  Item 32 (Battles and Campaigns) of the applicant’s WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he participated in the Rhineland campaign during WWII.  

8.  Item 33 (Decorations and Citations) of the applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he was awarded 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 Bronze Star Medal or the Purple Heart.

9.  Item 34 (Wounds Received in Action) of the applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 contains the entry "None."

10.  The applicant's reconstructed record does not contain General Orders awarding him the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, or the Combat Infantryman Badge.

11.  Item 11 (List all significant diseases, wounds, and injuries.  State circumstances under which wounds or injuries ser incurred and date of onset.) of the applicant’s WD AGO Form 38, dated 1 February 1946, shows he underwent an operation to his left eye at the 23rd General Hospital, France, in August 1945; and that he had a sprained back and was admitted and/or treated at the 30th General Hospital, Belgium, in March 1945.

12.  Item 43 (Remarks, Special Tests, or Other Defects) of the applicant’s WD AGO Form 38, dated 1 February 1946, shows the entry “He is physically and mentally qualified for service in the Army of the United States.” 

13.  The applicant's final payment work sheet, WD Form 372-A, does not indicate that he was paid combat infantryman pay.

14.  In his own chronological order of events, the applicant states, in pertinent part that he joined up with the 87th Infantry Division in January 1945 during the Battle of the Bulge.  He was injured outside Koblenz, Germany, when an enemy 88 mm round destroyed the building his unit was in.  He was sent from Roth, Germany, by the 312th Medical Battalion of the 87th Infantry Division, on
19 March 1945, to Tent City field hospital, where he was initially treated and awarded the Purple Heart.  He was subsequently transferred to France for recuperation and was assigned to SHAPE Headquarters on 5 May 1945 for special duty.  He reported to the 23rd General Hospital in August 1945 for eye surgery.

15.  The Purple Heart was established by General George Washington at Newburgh, New York on 7 August 1782 during the Revolutionary War.  It was reestablished by the President of the United States per War Department General Orders Number 3 in 1932.  It was awarded in the name of the President of the United States to any member of the Armed Forces or any civilian national of the United States who, while serving under competent authority in any capacity with one of the U.S. Armed Services after 5 April 1917, died or sustained wounds as a result of hostile action.

16.  Army Regulation 672-5-1 (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 been treated by medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official records.

17.  War Department Circular 269-1943 established the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Expert Infantryman Badge to recognize and provide an incentive to infantrymen.  The Expert Infantryman Badge was to be awarded for attainment of certain proficiency standards or by satisfactory performance of duty in action against the enemy.  The Combat Infantryman Badge was awarded for exemplary conduct in action against the enemy.  War Department Circular 186-1944 further provided that the Combat Infantryman Badge was to be awarded only to infantrymen serving with infantry units of brigade, regimental or smaller size.  Additionally, World War II holders of the Combat Infantryman Badge received a monthly pay supplement known as combat infantry pay and holders of the Expert Infantryman Badge were entitled to expert 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.  The Military Awards Branch of the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, (USAHRC) has advised in similar cases that, during World War II, the Combat Infantryman Badge 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)

18.  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 Expert Infantryman Badge or the Combat Infantryman Badge would be paid additional compensation at the rate of $5 per month when he was entitled to wear the Expert Infantryman Badge and at the rate of $10 per month when he was entitled to wear the CIB. 

19.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides for award of the Bronze Star Medal to members of the armed forces who, after 6 December 1941 and prior to
3 September 1945, have been cited in orders or in a formal certificate for meritorious or exemplary conduct in ground combat against the armed enemy.  A citation in orders for the Combat Infantryman Badge or Medical Badge awarded in the field during the period of actual combat against the armed enemy is considered as a citation for exemplary conduct in ground combat.  It also provides for the wear of one bronze service star on the appropriate campaign or service medal for each credited campaign.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  With respect to award of the Purple Heart, there are no General Orders that show the applicant was awarded the Purple Heart and there is no evidence in his service personnel records which shows he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action or treated for such wounds.  Absent evidence which conclusively shows that the applicant sustained wounds or injuries as a result of hostile 
action, and that he was treated by medical personnel for those wounds or injuries, and that this treatment was made a matter of official record, there is insufficient basis for awarding the Purple Heart to the applicant in this case.

2.  With respect to award of the Combat Infantryman Badge, there is no evidence in the available records and the applicant did not provide substantiating evidence that he was awarded an infantry MOS, or served in active ground combat while assigned or attached to an infantry unit of brigade, regimental or smaller size.  All Soldiers are provided basic combat skills training after they enter the Army.  This is provided to ensure that all Soldiers have the survival skills to perform basic infantry missions when the need arises.  The applicant may have been trained as a Rifleman; however, he held a postal MOS during his service in WWII.  Additionally, his pay records do no show he was paid additional compensation that signified award of the Combat Infantryman Badge.  Therefore, he does not meet the criteria for award of the Combat Infantryman Badge.

3.  With respect to award of the Bronze Star Medal, there is no evidence in the applicant’s constructed records and the applicant did not provide any evidence that shows he was awarded the Bronze star Medal for service or achievement, or that he was cited in orders or in a formal certificate for meritorious or exemplary conduct in ground combat against the armed enemy.  Furthermore, a citation in orders for the Combat Infantryman Badge awarded in the field during the period of actual combat against the armed enemy is considered as a citation for exemplary conduct in ground combat.  However, the applicant did not meet the criteria for award of the Combat Infantryman Badge and therefore does not meet the criteria for award of the Bronze Star Medal.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

__X_____  ___X____  ___X___  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.



      _________X_____________
               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)                                         AR20080007674



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20080007674



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