IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 31 January 2013
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20120011238
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 reconsideration of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) decision denying him award of the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states that in December 1944 he was knocked to the ground by incoming artillery explosions, dirt and empty gas cans which caused bleeding from his head and chest. He was taken to a field hospital by battalion aid men who treated and bandaged him up. He was told by a doctor, a lieutenant colonel, "you have a Purple Heart." After a period he was sent back to duty. In June 1945, he caught the flu in Wurzburg, Germany and he was admitted to a hospital with severe chest pains. Before being discharged, he spent several months at Lovell General Hospital, Fort Devens, MA, where it was discovered he had pleurisy. He was discharged with 30 percent disability. He still has lesions and shrapnel marks on his legs and chest. He states the Webster's Dictionary definition of a lesion is "a wound or injury." He states he was wounded and still has that lesion.
3. The applicant provides:
* a Final Summary, dated 21 February 1946, from Lovell General Hospital
* a Compensation and Pension Respiratory Examination from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), West Palm Beach, FL, dated
21 October 2010
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 AR20110015771, on 8 March 2012.
2. The Compensation and Pension Respiratory Examination he submitted is new evidence that requires reconsideration of his case.
3. The applicants 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 and also obtained from alternate sources and are sufficient for the Board to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case. The primary record available to this Board is the applicants WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation and Honorable Discharge).
4. He entered active service on 3 June 1943. He served as a truck driver in the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater from 9 March 1944 to 26 November 1945.
5. A health record research project, commonly referred to as the Surgeon General Files, involved transposing the hospital admission card data from the periods of World War II and the Korean War onto magnetic tape. These files show:
a. He was treated in June 1945 for sinusitis, acute with penicillin therapy. He was hospitalized for 8 days and the disposition indicates he was returned to duty. There are no entries indicating the condition was combat incurred.
b. In December 1945, he was admitted to Fort Devens, MA for pleuritis, serofibrinous. He was hospitalized 79 days and the disposition was discharged or retired for disability. There are no entries indicating the condition was combat incurred.
6. On 1 March 1946, he was honorably discharged with a Certificate of Disability for Discharge. His WD AGO 53-55 does not show he was awarded the Purple Heart. Item 34 (Wounds Received in Action) of his WD AGO Form 53-55 does not show any entries pertaining to wounds received in action.
7. On the Compensation and Pension Respiratory Examination, from the VA, dated 21 October 2010, he underlined the entry "Gunshot wound with retained missile in lung." However, this sentence is entered on the report in the section entitled "PULMONARY HISTORY, NO HISTORY OF."
8. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained as a result of hostile action. Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify that the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The entry he underlined on the Compensation and Pension Respiratory Examination is in a section of the report listing conditions for which he has no history. The report shows he has no history of a gunshot wound with a retained missile in his lung.
2. He contends Webster's Dictionary defines lesion as a wound or injury. However, Webster's Dictionary is not a source for defining or determining whether a lesion, wound, or injury was received as a result of hostile action.
3. The veracity of his statements as to what happened to him in Europe is not in question. However, there is no official documentation or evidence to corroborate his statements. Therefore, there is an insufficient basis upon which to award him the Purple Heart.
BOARD VOTE:
________ ________ ________ GRANT FULL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
____X___ ____X___ ___X__ _ DENY APPLICATION
BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:
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 to amend the decision of the ABCMR set forth in Docket Number AR20110015771, dated 8 March 2012.
_______ _ 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) AR20120011238
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ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20120011238
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ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
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