IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 10 February 2009
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20080014030
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 Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states that he was wounded when a German rocket damaged the building he was occupying. He sustained glass splinters, a headache, and tinnitus.
3. The applicant provides, in support of his request, copies of four photographs, a letter of commendation for his platoon, a two dollar bill on which he recorded dates and locations, and a 28 April 2007 letter he wrote to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
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 applicants 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 his records were lost or destroyed in that fire. The available records consist of his WD AGO Form
53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation Honorable Discharge) and his WD Form 372A (Final Payment Work Sheet).
3. The applicant was inducted on 17 October 1942. He received training as a survey and instrument man and qualified as a marksman with the .30 caliber carbine and a Sharpshooter with the .30 caliber machine gun. He arrived in France on 12 October 1944 and returned to the United Sates on 30 January 1946.
4. His WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he participated in the Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe campaigns and indicates that his authorized awards are the Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal. It does not show the Purple Heart as an authorized award and item 34 (Wounds Received in Action) states "None." The applicant signed the document as the person being separated.
5. The applicant's 28 April 2007 letter to the VA states, in pertinent part, "On 3/9/45 at Ottinger Germany
One V-2 landed close
the window blew out
I was cut with glass. Several guys went to an aid station for treatment. I later learned they received Purple Hearts. About the time I was going
an old German woman was trapped
I helped for several hours to free her
we slept
we left the next morning toward Remagen. I had to pick some broken glass out of my stomach area. I was told the Aid Station had moved on. As a result of the V-2 blast I suffered a severe headache and tinnitus."
6. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained while in action against an enemy or 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. The applicant states that he was wounded by the blast from a V-2 rocket and should receive the Purple Heart.
2. There is no available evidence of record that the applicant was treated for a wound sustained as the result of enemy action. His description of the incident indicates that he did not receive any treatment.
3. In order to justify correction of a military record the applicant must show to the satisfaction of the Board, or it must otherwise satisfactorily appear, that the record is in error or unjust. The applicant has failed to submit evidence that would satisfy this requirement.
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) AR20080014030
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