BOARD DATE: 15 December 2009
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20090011449
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, as the widow of a deceased former service member (FSM), requests reconsideration of an earlier request for award of the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states, in effect, that during the Battle of El-Guettar in Tunisia, the FSM was wounded above the eye by a bullet fragment embedded in his forehead. The wound remained untreated for many days until a French doctor cleaned it and removed the fragments. However, no record of his treatment by the French doctor was kept. In addition, there is no record kept about the beating he endured and/or of the FSM's broken nose by civilian police during his recapture after his 2-day escape from a German prisoner of war (POW) camp.
3. The applicant provides a letter, dated 24 June 2009, from a Member of Congress; a letter, dated 12 June 2009, from the Military Awards Branch, U.S. Army Human Resources Command, Alexandria, Virginia; and copy of an excerpt from the Provost Marshal General's Office American POW Master Index Files in support of her request for reconsideration.
4. The applicant also provided several documents (i.e., a photograph of the FSM as a POW, a Veterans Administration Form 10-0048 (Former POW Medical History), and a biography of the FSM) which were previously submitted and will not be considered by the Board.
CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:
1. Incorporated herein by reference are military records which were summarized in the previous consideration of the applicant's case by the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) in Docket Number AR20080018359 on 10 February 2009.
2. The applicant provided an excerpt from the Provost Marshal General's Office American POW Master Index Files which lists the FSM as a POW in Germany as of 2 July 1943. This file does not show the FSM was wounded while held as a POW.
3. The applicant's submission is new evidence which will be considered by the Board.
4. The FSMs 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 the FSMs records were lost or destroyed in that fire. However, there were sufficient documents remaining in a reconstructed record for the Board to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case.
5. The FSM's WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation) shows he enlisted in the Regular Army on 17 September 1940. He served in the European theater of operations from 7 August 1942 to 26 October 1942. Records show he arrived in the Mediterranean theater of operations on 8 November 1942, he was a POW from 3 March 1943 to 30 May 1945, and he departed the Mediterranean theater of operations on 3 June 1945. On 6 September 1945, he was honorably discharged.
6. The FSM's WD AGO Form 53-55 does not show the Purple Heart as an authorized award. Item 34 (Wounds Received in Action) of the FSM's WD AGO Form 53-55 contains the entry "None."
7. There is no evidence in the available records that shows the FSM was awarded the Purple Heart or was wounded as a result of hostile action during World War II.
8. The FSM died on 3 October 1998.
9. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained 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 been treated by military medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
The applicant's contentions were carefully considered. However, there is no evidence of record which shows the FSM was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action during World War II. There is also no evidence, such as a medical examination taken immediately after his return to military control or debriefing interview documentation, in the available records which shows the FSM was injured/wounded while held as a POW. Regrettably, there is insufficient evidence on 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 to amend the decision of the ABCMR set forth in Docket Number AR20080018359, dated 10 February 2009.
____________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) AR20090011449
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