IN THE CASE OF:	

		BOARD DATE:	  09 March 2010

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20090013637 


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 the military records of his father, a former service member (FSM), be corrected to show he was awarded the Purple Heart as a result of being wounded during World War I.

2.  The applicant states his father was wounded in Belgium on 31October 1918, while participating in a combat action during the battle of Lip-Scheldt.  

3.  The applicant provides the FSM's Honorable Discharge Certificate with an Enlisted Record on the reverse.

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 FSM’s military records were lost or destroyed in a fire at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973.  The records available to the Board 
were provided by the applicant.  These records are sufficient for the Board to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case.  

3.  The FSM enlisted in the Regular Army on 26 June 1918 and was assigned to Company C, 363rd Infantry.  The highest grade held by the FSM was private first class/grade 3.

4.  The Enlistment Record contains an item entitled "Battles, engagements, skirmishes, expeditions."  This item indicates the FSM participated in the Lip-Scheldt (Belgium) campaign during World War I.

5.  The Enlistment Record contains an item entitled "Wounds received in service."  This item indicated the FSM was wounded in action on 31 October 1918.

6.  The FSM was honorably discharged on 24 April 1919.  He had completed 
10 months and 30 days of creditable active service.

7.  There were no medical records from the FSM's service available for review.

8.  The FSM's records show that he was entitled to additional awards, which were not requested.

9.  George Washington established the “Badge of Military Merit,” as the Purple Heart was originally known, in a New York town on 7 August 1782.  It was awarded to three Soldiers during the Revolutionary War before falling into disuse.  Its use wasn’t again proposed until World War I, when then-Army Chief of Staff General Charles Pelot Summerall requested Congress revive the medal. That movement died in 1928, but 3 years later, his successor, General Douglas MacArthur, quietly requested the medal’s design be retooled.  On the observance of George Washington’s 200th birthday (22 February 1932), under general 





orders of the War Department, the medal was revived with a new design and a new name.  However, it still was thought of as an Army decoration; it wasn’t until 1942 that President Franklin D. Roosevelt extended the medal to those serving in other services who were wounded in the 7 December 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.  In 1952, President Harry S. Truman carried that action a step further, retroactively granting the medal to any qualified service member back to 5 April 1917. 

10.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides that the Purple Heart is awarded for wounds sustained as a result of hostile action after 5 April 1917.  Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify that the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment by a medical officer, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.  

11.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, for the award of the World War I Victory Medal (originally known as the Victory Medal), established by War Department General Order 48, 1919, for service between 6 April 1917 and 11 November 1918.  Final endorsement of the Victory Medal design was given by Secretary of War Newton D. Baker on 14 November 1919.

12.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, for battle clasps, authorized to be worn on the suspension ribbon of the World War I Victory Medal, for each of the major operations in which individuals were actually present under competent orders.  The clasps, with a star on each side of the name of the campaign or one of the defensive sectors, were worn on the suspension ribbon of the medal.  Among the battle clasps authorized is Ypres-Lys: 19 August – 
11 November 1918.  Since battle and service clasps could only be worn on the full sized World War I Victory Medal, bronze service stars were authorized for wear on the award ribbon.  This was the common method of campaign and battle display when wearing the World War I Victory Medal as a ribbon on a military uniform.

13.  Army Regulation 600-8-22, in pertinent part, authorizes award of a bronze service star, based on qualifying service, for each campaign listed in Appendix B of this regulation.  The regulations state that authorized bronze service stars will be worn on the appropriate campaign and service medal, which in this case is when the World War I Victory Medal is worn as a ribbon.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The FSM's Enlistment Record shows that he was wounded in action on 
31 October 1918.  Therefore, there is sufficient evidence to award the FSM the Purple Heart.

2.  The final design for the World War I Victory Medal was not approved until after the FSM was discharged.  Therefore, it is likely he never received this award.  Based on his service from 26 June 1918 to 24 April 1919, the FSM was entitled to the World War I Victory Medal.

3.  According the FSM's Enlistment Record, he participated in the Ypres-Lys campaign.  Therefore, the FSM was entitled to the Ypres-Lys clasp to be worn on the suspension ribbon of his World War I Victory Medal.  The FSM was also entitled to one bronze service star when wearing the World War I Victory Medal as a ribbon.

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 FSM the Purple Heart for wounds received in action on
31 October 1918;

   b.  correcting his records to show award of the World War I Victory Medal with the Ypres-Lys clasp for display on the suspension ribbon of the World War I Victory Medal;
   
   c.  correcting his records to show award of the World War I Victory Medal with one bronze service star for display on the World War I Victory Medal service ribbon; and
   
   
d.  issuing the applicant an appropriate document as a result of these corrections.




      _______ _   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)                                         AR20090013637





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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20090013637



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