IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 15 January 2013
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20120012256
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 the middle initial listed on his WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation) be changed from G to E.
2. The applicant states an administrative error was made in the preparation of his WD AGO Form 53-55.
3. The applicant provides a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) letter and Michigan Identification (ID) Card in support of his request.
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 military record is not available to the Board for review. A fire destroyed approximately 18 million service members' records at the National Personnel Record Center (NPRC) in 1973. It is believed that the applicants records were lost or destroyed in that fire. This case is being considered using reconstructed records maintained at the NPRC which includes a WD AGO Form 53-55, WD Form 372A (Final Payment Work Sheet), U.S. National Archives & Records Administration (Records Display), and NA Form 13038 (Certification of Military Service).
3. The applicant's WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he was inducted into the Army on 3 June 1944, and that he served for 2 years and 3 days until being honorably separated, in the rank of private, on 15 June 1946. Item 1 (Name) of the WD AGO Form 53-55 issued to the applicant upon his separation contains the middle initial G.
4. The NPRC file contains a WD AGO Form 372A, NA Form 13038 and NARA Records Display form that list the applicants middle initial as E. In addition, all correspondence pertaining to the applicant by the NPRC lists his middle initial as E.
5. The applicant provides a VA rating letter, dated 19 November 2002, and a Michigan ID card, dated 25 November 2010, that both list his middle initial as E," and a birth certificate that shows a slight variation in the spelling of his first name and his full name is recorded containing his mother's last name.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
The applicants request to correct the middle initial listed on his WD AGO Form 53-55 has been carefully considered and found to have merit. It appears clear from the documents in the NPRC file that the applicants correct middle initial is E and that is the middle initial recorded in the remaining documents in the NPRC file with the exception of the WD AGO Form 53-55. As a result, it would be appropriate to correct the WD AGO Form 53-55 accordingly.
BOARD VOTE:
____X____ ___X_____ ___X_____ GRANT FULL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION
BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:
The Board determined that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant a recommendation for relief. As a result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by amending his WD AGO Form 53-55 by deleting the current middle initial listed in item 1 and replacing it with the middle initial E.
_______ _ _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) AR20120012256
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20120012256
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