BOARD DATE:	  21 October 2010

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20100012141 


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, the son of a deceased former service member (FSM), requests correction of his father's record to show award of the Purple Heart.

2.  The applicant states his father received wounds in action against the enemy on 11 June 1918 while in France.  He adds the Purple Heart was not authorized for wounds received in World War I until 1932.  Therefore, the FSM was never issued the Purple Heart prior to his death on 12 February 1942. 

3.  The applicant provides the FSM's:

* Honorable Discharge Certificate, dated 25 January 1919
* Enlistment Record
* Certificate of Death
* Casualty Report, dated 19 November 1918
* Medical Records
* Separation Physical
* Application of Person Disabled in and Discharged from Service
* Bureau of War Risk Insurance, dated 1 April 1919
* Disability Compensation Claim, dated 29 April 1931
* Re-Examination, dated 15 March 1921
* Photograph
* Magazine Article "The Second Division at Chateau - Thierry" dated March 1919


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 16 June 1917 and was assigned to Company C, 5th Machine Gun Battalion.  He was honorably discharged on 
25 January 1919.

4.  The FSM's Enlistment Record contains an item entitled "Battles, engagements, skirmishes, expeditions."  This item indicated the FSM participated in the battle for Chauteau Thierry on 3 June 1918 in France during World War I.

5.  The Enlistment Record contains an item entitled "Wounds received in service."  This item indicated the FSM's right forearm was amputated and he received shell fragments on his left side and arm.

6.  The Headquarters 5th Machine Gun Battalion Casualty Roster, dated 
19 November 1918, provided a list of Soldiers killed, wounded, missing, and/or captured since the battalion's arrival in France.  This roster verifies that the FSM was severely wounded in action on 11 June 1918 at Bois d' Clarembois.  Additionally, the FSM's medical records, separation examination, and disability compensation claim substantiate this wounding. 

7.  The FSM died on 12 February 1942.



8.  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 was not again proposed until WWI, 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 was not 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. 

9.  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. 

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

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.  Paragraph 6-6 of Army Regulation 600-8-22 governs, in pertinent part, service clasps which may be worn on the World War I Victory Medal.  The France service clasp is authorized for service in the country of France.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The FSM's Enlistment Record and casualty roster verify he was severely wounded on 11 June 1918.  Therefore, based on the evidence provided, the FSM is entitled to award of the Purple Heart for wounds sustained on 11 June 1918.

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 15 June 1917 to 25 January 1919, the FSM is entitled to the World War I Victory Medal.

3.  The available evidence shows the FSM served in France.  Therefore, he is entitled to wear of the France service clasp on his World War I Victory Medal.

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
11 June 1918; and

   b.  correcting his records to show award of the World War I Victory Medal with the France clasp for display on the suspension ribbon of the World War I Victory Medal.




      _______ _   _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)                                         AR20100012141



3


ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS

 RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


1

ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20100012141



2


ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS

 RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


1