IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 16 October 2008
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20080011918
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 he be awarded the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states that he was not awarded the Purple Heart.
3. The applicant provides his separation document (WD AGO Form 53-55) which shows in Item 34, Wound Received In Action, ETO 17 MAR 45. The applicant also submits a newspaper clipping which stated that the applicant was wounded in France on 17 March (year not given).
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 applicant's military records could not be located, and are presumed to have been destroyed at the fire at the records repository at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1973. The information contained herein was derived from alternative sources.
3. The applicant was inducted on 28 May 1943 and entered active duty on 11 June 1943. He was awarded the military occupational specialty of surgical technician, and served in the European-African-Middle Eastern theater of operations from 20 October 1944 to 18 March 1946.
4. The applicant was honorably released from active duty on 2 April 1946 due to the demobilization of the Army. The WD AGO Form 53-55 issued to the applicant does not show that he was awarded the Purple Heart.
5. The applicants WD AGO Form 53-55, Item 34 shows that he was wounded in action on 17 March 1945.
6. Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides that the Purple Heart is awarded for wounds 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.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The entry in Item 34 of the applicants WD AGO Form 53-55 confirms that the applicant was wounded as the result of hostile action, the criteria for award of the Purple Heart.
2. The newspaper clipping submitted by the applicant is further validation of his being wounded, especially since the article shows the date of wounding as the date entered on the applicants WD AGO Form 53-55.
3. As such, it would be appropriate to correct the applicants records as recommended below.
BOARD VOTE:
___X____ ___X____ ___X___ GRANT FULL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION
BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:
The Board determined that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant a recommendation for relief. As a result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by awarding him the Purple Heart for wounds received as the result of hostile action on 17 March 1945.
_______ _ 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) AR20080011918
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20080011918
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