IN THE CASE OF:	  

		BOARD DATE:	  8 April 2010

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20090017295 


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 the organization shown on his report of separation be changed to read, "816th Coastal Artillery Battalion."

2.  The applicant states item 6 (Organization) of his WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation - Honorable Discharge) should be changed from Battery C, 162d Field Artillery Battalion, to 816th Coastal Artillery Battalion at Roosevelt Roads Naval Base.

3.  The applicant provides copies of his WD AGO Form 53-55.

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.  However, sufficient information is available to render a full and impartial review.

3.  His WD AGO Form 53-55 shows that he was inducted into the Army of the United States and entered active duty on 31 May 1943.  On 29 January 1946, he was separated as a field artillery corporal while assigned to Battery C, 162d Field Artillery Battalion.

4.  His WD AGO Form 38 (Report of Physical Examination of Enlisted Personnel Prior to Discharge, Release from Active Duty), dated 28 January 1946, shows his arm of service as Coastal Artillery Corps.  

5.  His WD AGO Form 100 (Separation Qualification Record) lists his operational assignments as:

	a.  3 months in basic coastal artillery training,

	b.  12 months in military occupational specialty (MOS) 2601 (anti-aircraft gun crewman), and

	c.  12 months in MOS 505 (ammunition noncommissioned officer).

	d.  The description of his duties includes, "…tasks incident to firing a mobile 99 millimeter gun.  Fired gun by keeping pointers on azimuth and elevation dials aligned with pointers electrically controlled from director…"

6.  Army Technical Manual 12-235 (Enlisted Personnel Discharge Procedures and Preparation of Separation Forms), in effect at the time, provided, in pertinent part, that item 6 of the WD AGO Form 53-55 was to show the last unit or similar element to which the Soldier was assigned, rather than the element of which the Soldier was a part of while moving to a separation activity.  Assignments to units for the purpose of transferring from the theater to the United States were considered part of the movement to a separation activity.

7.  The website http://www.neta.com reports that Hector Marin, a writer and professional historian, contributed the following information about Puerto Rican units that served in World War II.  He identifies the 1st Battalion, 162d Field Artillery (later re-designated 162d Field Artillery Battalion) as a Puerto Rican Army National Guard unit and the 816th Coastal Artillery Battery (Anti-Mortar Torpedo Boat) as one of several of "a considerable number of Puerto Rican organizations and units made up of draftees and assigned to the Puerto Rican Department."

8.  Another website describes the operation of U.S. 90 millimeter artillery weapons with visual and radar directors for anti-aircraft operations.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant states item 6 of his WD AGO Form 53-55 should be changed from Battery C, 162nd Field Artillery Battalion, to 816th Coastal Artillery Battalion at Roosevelt Roads Naval Base.

2.  The applicant was inducted; he was not mobilized as part of the Puerto Rican Army National Guard.

3.  The description of duties in the WD AGO Form 100 as, "Fired gun by keeping pointers on azimuth and elevation dials aligned with pointers electrically controlled from director…" is an anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) technique.  It is clearly not a field artillery activity.  The use of an AAA weapon as an anti-mortar torpedo boat weapon is reasonable even though such use is not actually documented herein.

4.  The applicant's available records indicate that it is more probable than not that he served in the coastal artillery rather than the field artillery.  It is reasonable to presume that his identification of his unit of assignment as the 816th Coastal Artillery Battalion is correct.

5.  His WD AGO Form 53-55 seems to have identified the unit and branch he was attached to for separation.  It should be corrected to show his unit and branch of assignment.

6.  In view of the foregoing findings and conclusions, it would be appropriate to rectify this error by correcting the applicant's records as recommended below.

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 changing his WD AGO Form 53-55 to show that his arm of service was coastal artillery and that his organization was the 816th Coastal Artillery Battalion.



      ___________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)                                         AR20090017295



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20090017295



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