IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 23 September 2008
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20080010648
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 that the Purple Heart be added to the WD AGO Form 52-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation) of her deceased father, a former service member (FSM).
2. The applicant states that the FSM was discharged due to a disability/injury that was incurred while he served during World War II.
3. The applicant provides the FSMs death certificate; her birth certificate; the FSMs WD AGO Form 53-55; a Standard Form 180 (Request Pertaining to Military Records); a letter from a representative from the Veterans Assistance Commission, Springfield, IL; and a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Form 21-4138 (Statement in Support of Claim).
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 applicants 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 applicants failure to timely file. In all other respects, there are insufficient bases to waive the statute of limitations for timely filing.
2. The FSMs 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 FSMs records were lost or destroyed in that fire. However, there were sufficient documents, consisting of the documents the applicant provided, remaining in a reconstructed record for the Board to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case.
3. The FSMs WD AGO 53-55 shows he was inducted into the Army on 27 April 1944. He arrived in the European Theater of Operations on 13 October 1944; he departed the theater on 23 October 1944; and he was discharged with a certificate of disability on 21 September 1945.
4. Item 34 (Wounds Received in Action) of the FSMs WD AGO Form 53-55 contains the entry, None recorded.
5. The FSMs WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he was awarded the Sharpshooter Marksmanship Qualification Badge (M-1), the Combat Infantryman Badge, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two bronze service stars, and the Army Good Conduct Medal.
6. 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 medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. Although the FSM was discharged with a certificate of disability, there is no available evidence to show what that disability was. Item 34 of his WD AGO Form 53-55 shows that no wounds were recorded. The FSM could have been disabled as a result of disease (such as pneumonia), or he could have been disabled as a result of an accident not the result of hostile action.
2. Without the FSMs service medical records or even contemporaneous VA medical records that might indicate to what his disability was due (specifically, whether it was incurred as the result of hostile action), regrettably there is insufficient evidence on which to base awarding him the Purple Heart.
BOARD VOTE:
________ ________ ________ GRANT FULL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
___xx___ ___xx___ ____xx__ DENY APPLICATION
BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:
1. 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 wants the applicant and all others concerned to know that this action in no way diminishes the sacrifices made by the FSM in service to our Nation. The applicant and all Americans should be justifiably proud of the FSMs service in arms.
_______ _xxxx______ ___
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) AR20080010648
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20080010648
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