BOARD DATE:	  16 August 2011

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20110002832 


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 award of the Purple Heart.

2.  The applicant states an X-Ray revealed a small piece of metal in his right knee and he contends the injury could only have occurred during World War II.  He had no injury to that knee in civilian life but he does remember discovering a tear in his pant leg after an intense battle.  They were in a vineyard in Anzio and were strafed by German aircraft.  The fighting was so intense that he did not notice it and the injury is currently causing a lot of pain and suffering.

3.  The applicant provides:

* his WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation - Honorable Discharge)
* Army of the United States Honorable Discharge Certificate, dated
29 September 1945
* a Cabarrus Family Medicine letter, dated 30 July 2010
* a Community Outreach Radiology Report, dated 14 January 2009

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 complete military records are not available to the Board for review.  A fire destroyed approximately 18 million service members' records at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973.  However, there were sufficient documents remaining in a reconstructed record for the Board to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case.

3.  His WD AGO Form 53-55 shows:

	a.  On 14 February 1942, he was inducted into the Army of the United States at Fort Bragg, NC and entered active service on the same date.

	b.  He served in the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater of Operations from 19 February 1943 to17 November 1944 and from 1 March 1945 to 
14 September 1945.  He completed 3 years, 7 months, and 16 days of creditable active service of which 2 years, 4 months, and 23 days was foreign service.

	c.  He was honorably discharged for the convenience of the Government at demobilization on 29 September 1945 in the rank of staff sergeant.  At the time of his discharge he held military occupational specialty 601 (Antiaircraft Artillery Noncommissioned Officer) while assigned to Battery D, 433d Coast Artillery Battalion (Antiaircraft).

	d.  He participated in the Sicily, Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arno, Southern France, Rhineland, and Central Europe Campaign.

	e.  He was awarded the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Campaign Medal with 6 bronze service stars and 1 bronze arrowhead, Army Good Conduct Medal, and the Bronze Star Medal.

	f.  He did not receive any wounds during his service.


4.  The applicant provides a physician's statement which states radiological pictures identified a piece of shrapnel embedded in the soft tissue of the applicant's right knee.  

5.  The Purple Heart was established by General George Washington at Newburgh, NY, on 7 August 1782 during the Revolutionary War.  It was reestablished by the President of the United States per War Department General Orders Number 3 in 1932.  It was awarded in the name of the President of the United States to any member of the Armed Forces or any civilian national of the United States who, while serving under competent authority in any capacity with one of the U.S. Armed Services after 5 April 1917, died or sustained wounds as a result of hostile action.

6.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained while 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.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The criteria for an award of the Purple Heart requires the submission of substantiating evidence to verify the wound or injury was the result of hostile action, the wound or injury must have required treatment by medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.

2.  The applicant's available record does not show he suffered from or was treated for a combat-related wound or injury during his period of service.  He acknowledges he did not notice the wound at the time and appears to acknowledge he was never treated for the wound.  The documents he submitted do not show he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action or treated for such wounds.

3.  Notwithstanding the applicant's sincerity, in the absence of corroborating evidence that conclusively shows he sustained wounds or injuries as a result of hostile action during his period of service, that he was treated by medical personnel for those wounds or injuries, and that this treatment was made a matter of official record, regrettably, there is an insufficient basis for awarding him the Purple Heart.


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)                                         AR20110002832



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20110002832



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