IN THE CASE OF:	

		BOARD DATE:	  29 December 2009

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20090010909 


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 his record be corrected to reflect his prisoner of war (POW) status. 

2.  The applicant states, in effect, that his discharge document should show that he served in a POW status.  

3.  The applicant provides, in support of his application, a letter from a retired lieutenant colonel (LTC) recounting the sequence of events that led to the applicant's capture; a photograph from the New York Times, dated 21 July 1944; wartime correspondence concerning a Soldier who was held captive with the applicant; telegrams to the applicant's father, dated 21 July and 
14 September 1944; and an extract from the book entitled The 508th Connection.

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 military records are not available.  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 copies of his WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation-Honorable Discharge; the applicant's War Department Form 372A (Final Payment - Worksheet); an October 1942 Regimental Roster; official memoranda and endorsements dated 19, 23 and 
29 July 1944, and 27 August 1944; correspondence concerning the POW Medal; the New York Times photograph; and an extract from The 508th Connection.

3.  The applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he enlisted on 29 January 1942. He was trained as a parachute rigger and served in the European Theater of Operations, from 8 January 1944 to 22 August 1945, with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment.  He participated in the Normandy, Ardennes-Alsace, Rhineland and Central Europe campaigns.  He was honorably discharged on 6 December 1945.  

4.  The applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he was awarded the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with four bronze service stars, the Sharpshooter Marksmanship Qualification Badge with Rifle and Carbine Bars, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Parachutist Badge, the Arrowhead, the Good Conduct Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Honorable Service Lapel Button and the “American Service Medal.  

5.  Item 55 (Remarks) of the applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he had 
5 days of lost time.  

6.  The wartime correspondence relating to the applicant's return to duty is as follows: 

   a.  a memorandum, dated 19 July 1944 from the intelligence section of First Army Headquarters, reports that a staff sergeant (SSG) and the applicant had been interrogated and were being returned to their units for positive identification.  They were not considered to be in a POW status; 
   
   b.  a letter, dated 23 July 1944 addressed "To Whom it May Concern," indicates that a second lieutenant knew and had identified the SSG and an endorsement on the same page indicates that the intelligence office was satisfied with that identification; and
   
   c.  The 2nd, 3rd and 4th endorsements, dated, 25 and 29 July and
27 August 1944, forwarded favorable endorsements concerning the SSG's request to be returned to the Continental United States as a POW. 

7.  The 21 July 1944 telegram to the applicant's father reported that he was missing in action.  The 14 September 1944 telegram reported that the applicant had been returned to duty on 22 July 1944.

8.  The New York Times photograph shows two individuals in civilian clothes (one of those individuals is identified as the applicant) and a third individual dressed in what appears to be fatigues.  The caption on this photograph states the applicant and the second individual in civilian clothes had, "been prisoners since D-day."

9. The book, The 508th Connection indicates:

   a.  the author became interested in the episode when the son of an Airborne captain contacted the 508th Association to inquire about his father's death;
   
   b.  this led to the applicant who, after being taken prisoner, rode in a German truck with the captain who was seriously wounded and later died;  
   
   c.  as the author tells the story, it is apparent that he had interviewed both the applicant and the SSG extensively.  The SSG was an intelligence specialist with the division, but attached to the 508th, and had not known the applicant before they were captured; and
   
   d.  the applicant and a SSG were being moved to the rear as prisoners, neither the prisoners nor their German guards had much to eat.  The applicant and the SSG managed to escape by pretending to dig for potatoes in a nearby field.  French farmers hid them for a few days and then helped them slip through the front lines.

10.  The letter from the retired LTC, who identifies himself as the applicant's company commander, relates that the applicant was captured in Normandy on 
D-day, escaped on 11 June [1944] and with the help of the French Resistance was "taken back through the American lines on [the] 17th of July."

11.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides:

	a.  the POW Medal was authorized on 8 November 1985 and is awarded to individuals who in past armed conflicts were taken prisoner or held captive;

   b.  an award of the Combat Infantryman Badge or the Combat Medical Badge is considered to be a citation in orders.  Therefore, the Bronze Star Medal is to be awarded to individuals who were authorized either badge for service during World War II; and
   
12.  Army Regulation 635-5 (Separations Document) establishes the standardized policy for preparing and distributing discharge documents.  It directs in the case of a POW an entry showing, "PRISONER OF WAR, (unit of assignment/country) (date of capture and release date)." 

13.  DA Pamphlet 672-1 (Unit Citation and Campaign Participation Credit Register) provides, in pertinent part, that the Presidential Unit Citation (formally known as the Distinguished Unit Citation until 3 November 1966) is awarded for extraordinary heroism in action.  A unit must display such gallantry, determination and esprit de corps in accomplishing its mission as would warrant award of the Distinguished Service Cross to an individual.  This pamphlet indicates that the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment was cited for award of the Presidential Unit Citation for the period 6-9 June 1944, by Department of the Army, General Orders 76, dated 1944. 

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant contends that his record/discharge document should be corrected to show he served in a POW status.

2.  The 19 July 1944 memorandum from the Headquarters, First Army Intelligence Section indicating that the applicant and a SSG were not considered to be in a POW status was an intelligence community decision that had no bearing on their personnel status.  

3.  The report of the former company commander, who commanded the applicant both before and after the incident, and the unit's history are convincing evidence 
the applicant was a POW.  Therefore, he should be awarded the POW Medal and an appropriate notation should be added to item 55 (Remarks) of his discharge document.

4.  The applicant is authorized award of the Bronze Star Medal based on having been awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge.

5.  The applicant's regiment, the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation (now known as the Presidential Unit Citation) for the period 6-9 June 1944.

6.  The above awards should be added to the applicant's discharge document and an appropriate notation concerning his POW status should be shown in the Remarks section of his WD AGO Form 53-55.

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 POW Medal and the Bronze Star Medal based on award of the Combat Infantryman Badge;  

   b.  showing, that in addition to the awards already listed on his WD AGO Form 53-55, he is authorized the Bronze Star Medal, POW Medal, and the Presidential Unit Citation; and 

   c.  entering in item 55 of his WD AGO Form 53-55 "PRISONER OF WAR (Headquarters and Headquarters Company 508th Infantry (6 June -11 June 1944)."



      __________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)                                         AR20090010909



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20090010909



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