IN THE CASE OF:	   

		BOARD DATE:	  19 February 2009

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20080018783 


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, in effect, that he be awarded the Purple Heart.

2.  The applicant states, in effect, that he was shot on the left side under his armpit by the enemy on or about 1 April 1944 or 1945.  He was hospitalized at the 17th Field Hospital.  He concludes his statement by stating, in effect, that he was unaware he was entitled to the Purple Heart.
	
3.  The applicant provides no additional documentary evidence in support of his application.

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 records show he was inducted into the Army of the United States on 6 January 1943 and entered active service at Newark, New Jersey, on the same date.  He was honorably separated in the grade of Technician Fifth Grade, on 11 April 1946, as a heavy automotive equipment operator, in the military occupational specialty, 931.  On the applicant's separation on demobilization, he was issued a WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation - Honorable Discharge).

3.  Item 33 (Decorations and Citations) of the applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he was awarded the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.  The Purple Heart is not shown on his WD AGO Form 53-55.

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

5.  Item 36 (Service Outside Continental U.S. and Return) of the applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he departed the United States on 11 February 1945 and arrived in the European theater of operations (ETO) on 24 February 1945.  The applicant departed the ETO on 26 March 1946 and arrived in the United States on 6 April 1946.

6.  The applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 was corrected to show he was awarded credit for participating in the Central Europe campaign of World War II.

7.  Item 37 (Total Length of Service) of the applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he was credited with 1 year, 1 month, and 10 days of continental service and 1 year, 1 month, and 29 days foreign service.

8.  Item 54 (Right Thumb Print) of the applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he affixed his thumb print in the appropriate space.  The applicant affixed his signature in item 56 (Signature of Person Being Separated).  The applicant's signature attested to the fact the information recorded on the form was, to the best of his knowledge, accurate and complete.

9.  A health record research project, commonly referred to as the "Surgeon General's Office (SGO) files," involved transposing the hospital admission card data from the periods of World War II and the Korean conflict onto magnetic tape.  In 1988 the National Research Council made these tape files available to the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC).  The availability of the information to the NPRC received considerable publicity by the various veterans' service organizations.  It was widely believed that these tapes would become a valuable substitute for the records lost in the NPRC fire of 1973.  It is estimated that the SGO files document 95 percent of all hospitalized battle casualties from World War II and the Korean War.  A search of these files shows the applicant was treated for a closed fracture of the radius of the lower extremity that he sustained when he was a passenger during a motorcycle accident in March 1944, before the applicant deployed to the ETO.  At the time of the applicant's accidental injury, he was at Camp Forrest, Tennessee.  No other hospital reports were found.

10.  Army Regulation 600-45 (22 September 1943, as changed on 3 May 1944) provided for award of the Purple Heart to members of the armed forces of the United States and to civilians who were citizens of the United States serving with the Army who were wounded in action against an enemy of the United States or as a direct result of an act of such enemy, provided such wound necessitated treatment by a medical officer.  For the purpose of awarding the Purple Heart, a wound was defined as an injury to any part of the body from an outside force, element, or agent sustained as a result of a hostile act of the enemy.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  To be awarded the Purple Heart, substantiating evidence must be provided to verify that the applicant was wounded as the result of hostile action, the wound must have required medical treatment, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.

2.  The applicant contends that he was shot by the enemy on the left side under the armpit on or about 1 April 1944 or 1945 and was hospitalized at the 17th Field Hospital.  There is no evidence, and the applicant provided none, to support his contention that he was wounded as a result of hostile action.

3.  A search of the SGO files revealed that the applicant was treated for a closed fracture of the radius of the lower extremity.  The evidence shows that he sustained this injury when he was a passenger in a motorcycle accident in March 1944, before he deployed to the ETO.  At the time of his accidental injury, he was at Camp Forrest, Tennessee.  No other hospital reports were found.

4.  In the absence of evidence that the applicant was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action and treated for those wounds, there is insufficient evidence upon which to base award of the Purple Heart in this case.



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)                                         AR20080018783



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20080018783



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