IN THE CASE OF:	   

		BOARD DATE:	  	  9 October 2008

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20080010796 


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 reconsideration of his earlier request for award of the Purple Heart.  

2.  The applicant states he was injured on the thumb of his left hand and he still has the scar after all these years.  He states that he was also injured at Reipertswiller, France by a shell explosion that fractured his left ear drum.  He states that he is still unable to hear very well even though he wears a hearing aid.  He also states he was in a coma for 30 days in a hospital in Paris, France.  

3.  The applicant provides personal statements and a letter of support.  

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  Incorporated herein by reference are military records which were summarized in the previous consideration of the applicant's case by the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) in Docket Number AR20070010512 on 6 December 2007.

2.  The statements regarding award of the Purple Heart are new issues that will be considered by the Board.

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's WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation, Honorable Discharge) shows he was inducted in the Army of the United States on 3 March 1943 and entered active duty on 10 March 1943.  

5.  The applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 also shows he served in the 
European-African-Middle Eastern (EAME) Theater during the period 2 September 1943 through 26 October 1945 and that he completed 5 months 
and 23 days of continental service and 2 years, 2 months, and 17 days of foreign service.  He was honorably discharged on 12 November 1945.

6.  His WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he was awarded the Silver Star, the Good Conduct Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Campaign Medal with five bronze service stars.  

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

8.  The applicant provided personal statements in support of his claim.  He alleges that he was wounded in the Black Forest of Germany while in battle.  His left hand and thumb were wounded.  A medic treated his wound and bandaged it. He states that the medic was killed two days later and his wound was never reported.  

9.  In an undated letter, the applicant stated that his company was in a small town named Reipertswiller, France around the end of the Battle of the Bulge.  The Germans were shelling them with aerial shells.  The last thing he remembered was a shell landing at the end of his machine gun.  When he awakened, he was in the hospital in Paris.  He was told that he had been in a coma for 30 days.  He also stated that he had severe headaches and earaches.  He was later told that he had a fractured ear drum.  

10.  The applicant provided a letter from a former fellow Soldier.  The individual described the events surrounding the applicant being wounded in 1944 in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France.  He stated that the applicant and another Soldier were manning one of the .30 caliber machine guns in his platoon.  Their position was fired upon and it looked as though the shell made a near direct hit on the machine gun nest.  The applicant was pulled from the machine gun nest by another Soldier and he was bleeding from one hand and his knee.  The individual stated the applicant was taken to the Medical Aid Station and he was never returned to his platoon.  
11.  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 medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.  

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  There are no orders which authorize award of the Purple Heart to the applicant.  There are no medical documents or contemporaneous Department of Veterans Affairs documents which indicate he was wounded as a result of hostile action and his WD AGO Form 53-55 does not reflect he received any wounds in action.  

2.  The applicant states that he was wounded on the thumb of his left hand in Germany and that he was treated by a medic.  He also states he was injured by a shell explosion that fractured his left ear drum while he was in France.  By regulation, in order to award the Purple Heart it is necessary to establish that a Soldier was wounded in action, that the wound required treatment by medical personnel, and the treatment record must have been made a matter of official record.  

3.  Unfortunately, there is no evidence of record available which verifies the applicant was injured as a result of hostile action in Germany or France.  Therefore, there is insufficient evidence on which to base award of he Purple Heart in this case.  

4.  The former fellow Soldier’s statements were carefully reviewed.  Regrettably, this document alone is not sufficient to meet the regulatory burden of proof necessary to support award of the Purple Heart in this case.  

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___XX_____  ___XX_____  ___XX_____  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 to amend the decision of the ABCMR set forth in Docket Number AR20070010512, dated 6 December 2007.




      _______ 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)                                         AR20080010796



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20080010796



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