IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 6 December 2011
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20110010304
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 correction of his discharge papers to show he was taken as a Prisoner of War (POW) around March of 1945.
2. The applicant states he always thought he was listed as a POW.
3. The applicant provides:
* excerpts from a publication entitled Report After Action, The Story of the 103d Infantry Division
* two pages from the December 2010 issue of News from the Cactus Patch
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 applicants 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 applicants failure to timely file. In all other respects, there are insufficient bases to waive the statute of limitations for timely filing.
2. The applicants 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. It is believed that his records were lost or destroyed in that fire. However, there were a limited number of documents remaining in a reconstructed record.
3. He was inducted into the Army of the United States and he entered active service on 25 March 1944. He completed basic combat and advanced individual training and he was awarded military occupational specialty 745 (Rifleman).
4. He arrived in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) on 13 July 1944. He departed the ETO on 13 July 1945 and arrived in the United States on 20 July 1945. He was honorably released from active duty on 22 March 1946. His last assignment is shown as Company A, 11th Infantry.
5. There is no evidence in the reconstructed records that shows he was a POW.
6. The National Archives Repatriated World War II Prisoner Data File does not list him as having been captured by the enemy.
7. An excerpt from the publication, Report After Action, states he and a buddy were captured by Germans and taken to a pillbox where they remained overnight. Apparently, after his buddy talked to them, the 14 German soldiers decided to surrender the next day to him and his buddy when the enemy (Americans) got nearer to the pillbox.
8. The pages from the News from the Cactus Patch contained a table that showed Company A, 411 had one member taken as POW.
9. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) states the POW Medal was authorized on 8 November 1985 and is awarded to individuals who in past armed conflicts were taken prisoner or held captive after 5 April 1917. The POW Medal is to be issued only to those U.S. military personnel and other personnel granted creditable U.S. military service who were taken prisoner and held captive:
* while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States
* while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force
* while serving with friendly forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party
* by foreign armed forces that are hostile to the United States, under circumstances which the Secretary concerned finds to have been comparable to those under which persons have generally been held captive by enemy armed forces during periods of armed conflict
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. There is no evidence in his reconstructed military record that shows he was a POW.
2. The National Archives Repatriated World War II Prisoner Data File does not list him as a POW.
3. The evidence he submitted is from unofficial publications. Without official evidence or documentation to corroborate his contention, there is an insufficient evidentiary basis for correcting his records and awarding him the POW Medal.
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 him in service to our Nation. He 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) AR20110010304
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20110010304
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