IN THE CASE OF:	  

		BOARD DATE:	  22 February 2011

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20100021054 


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, in effect, that the Combat Medical Badge be added to his discharge document and that he be awarded the Bronze Star Medal based on award of the Combat Medical Badge.

2.  The applicant states he was a medic with C Company, 329th Medical Battalion, 104th Infantry Division in 1944 and 1945.  He was issued the Combat Medic Badge and still has it.  He states his division landed in France on Utah Beach some weeks after D-Day and then moved into combat in Holland.  The 104th then turned to the drive from Aachen to the Roer in Germany.  He does not remember the period very well due in part to a blast injury and a concussion.  He states he was urged to pursue the award of the Bronze Star Medal based on the award of the Combat Medical Badge when he found the Combat Medical Badge was not in his record.

3.  The applicant provides:

* a summary of grief work he completed
* WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation Honorable Discharge) with a date of separation of 29 November 1945
* WD AGO Form 100 (Separation Qualification Record)





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 service personnel records were lost or destroyed in a fire at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973.  The records available to the ABCMR were provided in part by the applicant, including records he received from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, and are sufficient for the Board to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case.  

3.  The applicant was inducted into the Army of the United States on 18 March 1943 and entered active duty on 25 March 1943.  He completed basic combat and advanced individual training and he was awarded military occupational specialty (MOS) 409 (Medical Technician).

4.  He entered the European Theater of Operations (ETO) on 7 September 1944 and departed the ETO on 26 February 1945.

5.  His WD AGO Form 100 states he served in the ETO for 6 months doing various medical duties as a male nurse assisting in the care and treatment of the wounded.  He cleaned and applied bandages to injuries and wounds.  He applied arm and leg splints, kept records of patients, and took the temperature, and pulse respiration rates of patients.

6.  On 29 November 1945, he was discharged.  He completed 2 years, 7 months, and 26 days of active service that was characterized as honorable.  Item 33 (Decorations and Awards) of his WD AGO Form 53-55 does not show he was awarded the Combat Medical Badge.

7.  Army Regulation 672-5-1 (Military Awards), in effect at the time, provides, in pertinent part, that the Medical Badge was awarded to a member of the Army Medical Service (colonels and below) who had satisfactorily performed medical duties subsequent to 6 December 1941 while assigned or attached to a medical unit of an infantry unit of brigade, regimental or smaller size, or as a member of the medical platoon of an infantry or airborne brigade headquarters company, during any period the infantry unit was engaged in active ground combat.  Battle participation credit was not sufficient; the infantry unit must have been in contact with the enemy.

8.  Change 13, dated 18 May 1966, to Army Regulation 672-5-1 changed the title of the Medical Badge to the Combat Medical Badge.  However, the eligibility requirements for the award remained the same.

9.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) also provides, in pertinent part, that the Bronze Star Medal is awarded for heroism and for meritorious achievement or service in military operations against an armed enemy.  The Bronze Star Medal is authorized for each individual who was cited in orders or awarded a certificate for exemplary conduct in ground combat between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945 or whose achievement or service, during that period, was confirmed by documents executed prior to 1 July 1947.  An award of the Combat Infantryman Badge or the Combat Medical Badge is considered to be a citation in orders.  This means, in effect, that the Bronze Star Medal is to be awarded to individuals who were authorized either badge for service during World War II.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant contends the Combat Medical Badge should be entered on his WD AGO Form 53-55 and he should be awarded the Bronze Star Medal Based on award of the Combat Medical Badge.

2.  The units the applicant was assigned to and the dates he was assigned were not available for review.

3.  The regulation provides that, to be eligible for the Combat Medical Badge, a Soldier must have performed medical duties with an infantry unit that is engaged in active ground combat.  

4.  The applicant's MOS was 409.  However, his WD AGO 100 states during the 6 months that he served in the ETO he performed duties as a male nurse and kept records of patients.  There is no evidence the applicant was assigned to an infantry unit that was actively engaged in active ground combat.  Therefore, there is insufficient substantive evidence in this case on which to base correcting his WD AGO Form 53-55 to show award of the Combat Medical Badge.


5.  Based on the foregoing, the applicant is not entitled to award of the Bronze Star Medal based on award of the Combat Medical Badge.

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 that 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 that this action in no way diminishes the sacrifices made by the applicant in service to our Nation.  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)                                         AR20100021054



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20100021054



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