IN THE CASE OF:

		BOARD DATE: 24 January 2012

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20110013245 


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 reconsideration of his earlier request to correct his father's record to show award of the Belgian Fourragere and an additional bronze service star on his European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal.

2.  The applicant states he has evidence that shows his father's estimated date of death as 20 December 1944.   Based upon this information, his father should be awarded the Belgian Fourragere as his unit was twice cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army.

	a.  The applicant further states he discovered that the 18 December 1944 date of death provided to the Board was only an "estimated" date of death.  He has since received his father's Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) from the U.S. Army Human Resources Command pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request he made.  The file indicates his father's date of death was also estimated to be 20 December 1944.

	b.  His father was on the frontline in Belgium when the Battle of the Bulge broke out.  When he was killed in action, the German offensive was punching through the lines.

	c.  The FSM was originally listed as missing in action (MIA) on 18 December 1944.  His body was not positively identified until fingerprints were matched up in June 1945.  A tooth chart lists the date of death as "20 December 1944 (estimated)."
	d.  Additionally, handwritten notes on the Army Effects Bureau inventory shows the estimated date of death as 20 December 1944.  Finally, a document from the Army Service Forces, Kansas City Quartermaster Depot, indicates an estimated date of death of 20 December 1944.

	e.  The applicant states he previously argued that his father entered the European Theater of Operations (ETO) in September 1944.  He has discovered evidence that his father was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge on 
5 December 1944.  As the Ardennes-Alsace Campaign did not commence until 16 December 1944, this documentation indicates the FSM participated in the Rhineland Campaign (15 September 1944 through 21 March 1945).  Thus, his father is eligible for the second bronze service star on his European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal as originally requested.

3.  The applicant provides:

* his previous decision in Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) Docket Number AR 20100021675
* Graves Registration Form No. 1 (Report of Burial), dated 2 March 1945 
* War Department Battle Casualty Report, dated 18 December 1944 
* Graves Registration Form No. 1-A (Tooth Chart), dated 7 February 1945
* Army Effects Bureau Inventory, dated 17 August 1945 
* letter from the Kansas City Quartermaster, subject:  Disposal of Personal Effects, dated 1 April 1946, with one enclosure
* War Department Report of Death, dated 12 April 1945
* General Orders Number 105, issued by Headquarters, 23rd Infantry, dated 5 December 1944, awarded the FSM the Combat Infantryman Badge for exemplary combat in action against the enemy

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  Incorporated herein by reference are military records which were summarized in the previous consideration of the applicant's case by the ABCMR in Docket Number AR20100021675 on 19 April 2011.

2.  Army Regulation 15-185 sets forth procedures for processing requests for correction of military records.  Paragraph 2-15b governs requests for reconsideration.  This provision of the regulation allows an applicant to request reconsideration of an earlier ABCMR decision if the request is received within 1 year of the ABCMR's original decision and it has not previously been reconsidered.

3.  The applicant provides new evidence described above that was not previously considered by the Board.  This new evidence warrants consideration by this Board.

4.  The previous Record of Proceedings noted:

	a.  The FSM's 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 the FSM's records were lost or destroyed in that fire.  However, there were sufficient documents remaining in a reconstructed record for the Board to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case.

	b.  The FSM's reconstructed record shows he entered active service on 30 March 1944 and he served in the Army as an infantryman.  The available records do not show the date he departed the United States or the date he arrived in the ETO.  He was killed in action on 18 December 1944 while serving in the ETO.  He was assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division.

	c.  General Order Number 17, issued by Headquarters, 2nd Infantry Division, dated 16 February 1945, posthumously awarded the FSM the Silver Star for gallantry in action on 17 December 1944.  The award citation states, in part, "By his heroic and self-sacrificing decision to hold his position "at all costs," the remaining platoon and company safely withdrew."

	d.  War Department General Orders (WDGO) Number 58, dated 19 July 1945, awarded the 3rd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment the Presidential Unit Citation for the period 17 - 18 December 1944.

	e.  Department of the Army General Orders (DAGO) Number 43, dated 1950, awarded the Belgian Fourragere to the 23rd Infantry Regiment for the periods
13 - 19 December 1944 and 19 - 30 December 1944.

	f.  The applicant provided a letter from the NPRC, dated 15 July 2010, wherein they state they authorized shipment of the following awards for the FSM:

* Bronze Star Medal
* Purple Heart
* European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze service star


* World War II Victory Medal
* Combat Infantryman Badge (1st Award)
* Honorable Service Lapel Button World War II

5.  As new evidence the applicant provides the following:

	a.  Report of Burial, dated 2 March 1945, that shows the FSM's date of death was estimated to be 18 December 1944.  He died at Nerrigan, Belgium and he was buried on 5 February 1945, at the Henri Chappelle #1 cemetery.  The form states "Also identified 30 June 1945 by fingerprints...Wash D.C."

	b.  War Department Battle Casualty Report that shows the FSM was reported missing in action on 18 December 1944.

	c.  Tooth Chart, dated 5 February 1945, that shows Unidentified X-354 (American) was estimated to have died on 20 December 1944 in Merrigan, Belgium.

	d.  Army Effects Bureau Inventory, dated 17 August 1945, that lists the personal effects of "Unidentified X-354" who was estimated to have died on 
20 December 1944.

	e.  Army Services Forces, Kansas City Quartermaster Depot letter, subject:  Disposal of Personal Effects, dated 1 April 1946.  An enclosure to this letter describes the personal effects of "Unknown Decedent X-354" who was estimated to have died on 20 December 1944.

	f.  War Department Report of Death, dated 12 April 1945, that shows the FSM's date of death as 18 December 1944 and states in part, "The individual named in this report of death is held by the War Department to have been in a missing in action status from 18 December 1944 until such absence was terminated on 13 March 1945, when evidence considered sufficient to establish the fact of death was received by the Secretary of War from a Commander in the European Area."

	g.  Veterans Administration Form 8101 [title unreadable], dated 5 September 1945, that lists in item 7 (Date of Death) the FSM's date of death as
18 December 1944.

	h.  General Orders 105, issued by Headquarters, 23d Infantry, dated
5 December 1944, that announced the FSM was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge for exemplary conduct in action against the enemy.

6.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides Department of the Army policy, criteria, and administrative instructions concerning individual military decorations, Army Good Conduct Medal, service medals and ribbons, combat and special skill badges and tabs, unit decorations, and trophies, and similar devices awarded in recognition of accomplishments.  It states:

	a.  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.

	b.  the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal is awarded for service within the European African-Middle Eastern Theater between 7 December 1941 and 8 November 1945.  This medal is awarded to any service member who was permanently assigned in the theater for 30 consecutive days or 60 nonconsecutive days, or who was in active combat against the enemy and was awarded a combat decoration.  It further states a bronze service star is authorized with this award for each campaign a member is credited with participating in.

	c.  the Belgian Fourragere may be awarded when a unit has been cited twice in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army.  The award of the Belgian Fourragere is not automatic but must be by special decree of the Belgian Government.  Persons who were present in only one action are not authorized to wear the Fourragere.

7.  Department of the Army Pamphlet 672-1 (Unit Citation and Campaign Participation Credit Register) was published to assist commanders and personnel officers in determining or establishing the eligibility of individual members for campaign participation credit, assault landing credit, unit citation emblems, and occupation duty credit for World War II.  It shows the 23rd Infantry Regiment, the unit to which the FSM was assigned, participated in at least the following two campaigns:

* Rhineland Campaign (15 September 1944 - 21 March 1945)
* Ardennes-Alsace (16 December 1944 - 25 January 1945)


DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant contends his father should be entitled to the Belgian Fourragere based on new evidence he provided showing his father's estimated date of death as 20 December 1944.  He further contends his father is entitled to an additional bronze service star on the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal.

2.  The official date of death was established as 18 December 1944 based on the War Department Report of Death, dated 12 April 1945.  Contrary to the applicant's assertion, this was not an "estimated date."  Since the FSM's unit was cited for the second Order of the Day of the Belgian Army from 19 - 30 December 1944, there is no basis for correcting the FSM's record to show the Belgian Fourragere.

3.  With respect to the applicant's request for an additional bronze service star to be affixed to the FSM's already-awarded European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze service star, the applicant provided a copy of the general orders, dated 5 December 1944, awarding the FSM the Combat Infantryman Badge.  This is considered evidence that the FSM was in the ETO and participated during the Rhineland and Ardennes-Alsace campaign phases.  Therefore, the FSM's record should be corrected to show the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two bronze service stars.

4.  The War Department Report of Death shows the FSM's cause of death was "Killed in action."  Therefore, the FSM should be posthumously awarded the Purple Heart effective 18 December 1944 and his record should be corrected to show this award.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

____x___  ____x___  ____x___  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

1.  The Board determined that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant partial amendment of the ABCMR's decision in Docket Number AR20100021675, dated 19 April 2011.  As a result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by:

	a.  posthumously awarding the FSM the Purple Heart for being killed in action on 18 December 1944;

	b.  publishing an appropriate document to show award of the:

* Purple Heart
* European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two bronze service stars

	c.  issuing to the applicant the Purple Heart.

2.  The Board further determined that the evidence presented is insufficient to warrant a portion of the requested relief.  As a result, the Board recommends denial of so much of the application that pertains to award of the Belgian Fourragere.



      ___________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)                                         AR20100012399



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20110013245



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