IN THE CASE OF:	  

		BOARD DATE:	  22 March 2011

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20100019465 


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 to be awarded the Combat Medical Badge (CMB) and the Purple Heart.

2.  The applicant states he was one of 30 medical corpsmen from the 101st Hospital in England to go to France and he was injured when a bomb blew up a building while he was treating a Soldier.

3.  The applicant provides copies of:

* his WD AGO Form 40 (Certificate of Disability for Discharge)
* a National Archives and Records Administration Form 13075 (Questionnaire about Military Service)

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 for review.  A fire destroyed approximately 18 million service members' records at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973.  It is believed the applicant's records were lost or destroyed in that fire.  However, there were sufficient documents remaining in a reconstructed record to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case.

3.  The applicant was born on 10 November 1924 and was inducted into the Army of the United States on 3 November 1943 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  He completed medical technician training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and departed for the European theater of operations (ETO) on 19 July 1944.  He arrived in England on 26 July 1944 and was assigned to the 101st General Hospital.

4.  He participated in the European-African-Middle Eastern (EAME) campaign and he departed the ETO for transfer to the Army Service Forces (ASF) Convalescent Hospital at Camp Carson, Colorado, on 27 October 1944 (3 months after his arrival).

5.  On 18 December 1944, a board of medical officers convened at the ASF Convalescent Hospital and determined the applicant was unfit for military service because of psychoneurosis (severe hysteria) resulting in incapacitation because of frequent fainting spells.  The board determined the applicant could not be rehabilitated to perform effective military service and that maximum hospital benefit had been obtained.  The board further determined that his disability existed prior to entering into service and that it was not aggravated by service.  The board of officers approved the applicant for issuance of a Certificate of Disability for Discharge on 18 December 1944.

6.  On 22 December 1944, he was separated with a Certificate of Disability for Discharge.  He completed 1 year, 1 month, and 19 days of active service and was awarded the EAME Campaign Ribbon.

7.  There is no evidence in the available records to show the applicant was ever wounded or injured in action by the enemy and there is no evidence to show he was ever assigned to an infantry unit as a medical corpsman.

8.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) states the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained in action against an enemy or as a result of hostile action.  Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment by medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.

9.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 states the Combat Medical Badge is awarded to medical department personnel (colonel and below) who are assigned or attached to a medical unit of company or smaller size that is organic to an infantry unit of brigade, regimental, or smaller size which is engaged in active ground combat.  Battle participation credit is not sufficient; the infantry unit must have been in contact with the enemy and the Soldier must have been personally present and under fire during such ground combat.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The sincerity of the applicant's claim that he should have been awarded the Purple Heart and the CMB during WWII is not in doubt.  However, he failed to show through the available evidence of record and the evidence submitted with his application that he was serving as a medical corpsman with an infantry unit and that he was wounded/injured as a result of enemy action.

2.  In the absence of evidence to show he was wounded/injured as a result of enemy action while serving as a medical corpsman with an infantry unit of company size or smaller, there appears to be no basis to award him either the Purple Heart or the CMB.

3.  It is also difficult at best to determine 50+ years after the fact exactly where the applicant served given that his records were destroyed in the 1973 fire.

4.  Accordingly, it must be presumed that the applicant's records were correctly prepared at the time of his discharge.  Absent evidence to show otherwise, there appears to be no basis to grant his request.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

____X____  ____X____  ____X____  DENY APPLICATION



BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

1.  The evidence presented does not demonstrate the existence of a probable error or injustice.  Therefore, the Board determined the overall merits of this case are insufficient as a basis for correction of the records of the individual concerned.

2.  The Board wants the applicant and all others concerned to know this action in no way diminishes the sacrifices made by him in service to the United States during World War II.  The applicant and all Americans should be justifiably proud of his service in arms.



      _____________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)                                         AR20100019465



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20100019465



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