IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 28 JULY 2009
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20090003813
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 item 36 of his WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation - Honorable Discharge) be corrected.
2. The applicant states that the date of his departure to the Pacific theater of operations (PTO) should read 17 February 1945 and the date of his arrival in the PTO should read 17 March 1945.
3. In support of his request, the applicant provided a copy of his WD AGO
Form 53-55 and his honorable discharge certificate.
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 were lost or destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973. Information herein was obtained from the applicant's enlisted record and report of separation and from other official Army sources.
3. The applicant was inducted into the Army of the United States on 26 September 1944 and entered service in Chicago, Illinois, on the same date. The applicant served as a squad leader in the military occupational specialty (MOS) 610 and was honorably discharged in the grade of staff sergeant on 26 November 1946.
4. Item 36 (Service Outside Continental U.S. and Return) of the applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows that the applicant departed the United States on 17 February 1946 and arrived in the PTO on 17 March 1946. The applicant departed the PTO on 7 September 1946 and arrived in the United States on 18 September 1946.
5. Item 37 (Total Length of Service) of the applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows the applicant had 6 months and 27 days of continental service and 1 years, 7 months, and 2 days of foreign service to his credit.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. In order to justify correction of a military record the applicant must show or it must otherwise satisfactorily appear that the record is in error or unjust.
2. Item 37 of the applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows the applicant served overseas for 1 year, 7 months, and 2 days. If the applicant had departed the United States en route to the PTO on 17 February 1946, on the date of his return on 18 September 1946 he would only have been credited with 7 months and 2 days of foreign service.
3. It appears the applicant did depart from the United States on 17 February 1945, arrived in the PTO on 17 March 1945, and he did return to the United States on 18 September 1946; thus, he was correctly credited with 1 year, 7 months, and 2 days of foreign service.
4. It appears a typographical error was made at the time the applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 was being prepared and the dates 17 February 1946 and 17 March 1946 were incorrectly entered in item 36. The applicant is therefore entitled to a correction of item 36 of his WD AGO Form 53-55 to show the date he departed from the United States as 17 February 1945 and the date he arrived in the PTO as 17 March 1945.
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 correcting item 36 of the applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 to show his correct date of departure from the United States as 17 February 1945 and date of arrival in the PTO as 17 March 1945.
___________XXX______________
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) AR20090003813
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20090003813
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