IN THE CASE OF:	  

		BOARD DATE:	       18 November 2008

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20080012471 


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 he was wounded during the battle for Luzon on 26 January 1945.  He received a Certificate of Disability Discharge due to this wound.

3.  The applicant provides copies of his service personnel and medical records in support of his application.

COUNSEL'S REQUEST, STATEMENT AND EVIDENCE:

Counsel, a State Director of Veterans Services, prepared the application for the applicant's signature.  He only requests that upon completion of the proceedings the medal and award certificate be forwarded to him as his office has made arrangements for presentation to the applicant by The Adjutant General, Maine Army National Guard.

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 service records were damaged and partially destroyed in the fire at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973.  Many of the surviving documents have water damage or have been partially burned.  However, the majority of the available record is sufficiently legible to allow the Board to conduct a fair and impartial review of this issue.

3.  The applicant entered active duty on 11 March 1941 and may have served in both the European and Pacific Theaters.

4.  The parts of his available War Department, Adjutant General's Office (WD AGO) Form Number 24-3 (Service Record) show the following pertinent information:

	a.  entitlement to or award of the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (with battle credit for Guadalcanal, Northern Solomons, New Guinea and Luzon), the Philippine Liberation Ribbon, and four overseas service bars; and

	b.  receipt of a "gunshot wound through body" while in action at Hill 355, Luzon, Philippine Islands on 26 January 1945.

5.  The available service medical records show the applicant received medical treatment with surgical intervention and repair for multiple server penetrating abdominal shrapnel wounds received in action on 26 January 1945 at Luzon while assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 103rd Infantry Regiment.  He was evacuated to the United States as a result of these wounds and the complications.

6.  The applicant was honorably discharged on 1 November 1945 as a staff sergeant.

7.  The original WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation Honorable Discharge) is severely burned and the photo copy is of poor quality and difficult to read.  The following information was able to be recovered from these documents:

	a.  the applicant attained the rank of staff sergeant;

	b.  he is shown to have departed the continental United States (CONUS) for the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater on 1 October 1942 and returned to CONUS on 27 March 1945;  

	c.  he participated in the following campaigns: the Northern Solomons, Guadalcanal, New Guinea, and Luzon; 

	d.  his awards are listed as the American Defense Service Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with four bronze service stars, the Philippine Liberation Ribbon, the Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Sharpshooter Marksmanship Qualification Badge with Rifle Bar; 

	e.  he was wounded in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater on 26 January 1945; and

	f.  he was honorably discharged with a Certificate of Disability Discharge on 1 November 1945;

8.  The available record contains no documentation (other than the one entry on his WD AGO Form 53-55) of his service, if any, in the European Theater.  There is no listing of a date of transfer to the Pacific Theater.

9.  Further, the portion of his original WD AGO Form 53-55 related to his assigned unit is burned off and this section of the photocopy cannot be read. Neither copy shows the Purple Heart as an authorized award. 

10.  Department of the Army Pamphlet 672-1, Unit Citation and Campaign Participation Credit Register lists the unit awards received by units serving in World War II and Korea.  This document shows that while the applicant was assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 103rd Infantry Regiment, it was credited with participation in four campaigns.  It further shows that this unit received the Meritorious Unit Citation and participated in two amphibious assault landing.

11.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides that the Purple Heart is awarded to an individual who is wounded in action against an enemy of the United States, the armed force of a foreign country which is or has been engaged, while serving with a friendly foreign forces against an opposing force even though the U.S. is not engaged, as the result of any act of such enemy or opposing force or as a result an act of any hostile foreign force.  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. 
12.  It also for provides that a bronze “arrowhead” is worn on the appropriate service medal to denote participation in a combat parachute jump, helicopter assault landing, combat glider landing, or amphibious assault landing while assigned or attached as a member of an organized force carrying out an assigned tactical mission.  The regulation specifies that individual assault credit is tied directly to the combat assault credit decision for the unit to which the Soldier is assigned.  The regulation requires that the unit must be credited with a combat assault in order for the Soldiers to receive credit for a combat assault and the Soldier must physically exit the aircraft or the watercraft as appropriate.  The regulation also specifies that the arrowhead is authorized for wear on the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant's record clearly shows that he was wounded in action on 26 January 1945 and his treatment for these wounds is a matter of record.  Therefore, the applicant is entitled to award of the Purple Heart.

2.  His WD AGO Form 53-55 does not show award the Purple Heart and it is appropriate to correct the records by awarding the applicant the Purple Heart for wounds sustained on 26 January 1945.

3.  In addition to the awards listed on the WD AGO Form 53-55, the applicant was also awarded the Good Conduct Medal, and is entitled to the Meritorious Unit Citation and to wear an "Arrowhead" on his Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal.  It is appropriate to correct his discharge document to show these awards.

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:

	a.  awarding the applicant the Purple Heart for wounds received on 26 January 1945; and

	b.  showing that in addition to the awards listed on his discharge document, he was also awarded the Good Conduct Medal, the Meritorious Unit Citation, and to wear an "Arrowhead" on his already-awarded Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal.



      _________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)                                         AR20080012471



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20080012471



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