BOARD DATE: 10 January 2013
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20120012300
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 that he be awarded the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states the injustice should be corrected by awarding him the Purple Heart for injuries he sustained to his left arm in Italy in October 1945 during World War II.
3. The applicant provides a copy of a letter from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) advising him to apply to the Board.
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 applicant's military records are not available for review. A fire destroyed approximately 18 million service members' records at the NPRC in 1973. It is believed the applicant's records were lost or destroyed in that fire. However, the documents contained in a reconstructed record are sufficient to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case.
3. The applicant was inducted on 2 March 1943 and entered active duty in Baltimore, Maryland on 9 March 1943. He completed his training as a light mortar crewman and he departed the United States on 21 October 1944. He arrived in Italy on 4 November 1944 and participated in the Northern Appennies and PO Valley campaigns.
4. He departed Italy on 26 November 1945 and arrived in the United States on 10 December 1945. He was transferred to Fort Meade, Maryland where he was honorably discharged on 9 April 1946. His WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation Honorable Discharge) issued at the time of his discharge shows that he was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, Good Conduct Medal, American Theater Ribbon, European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Ribbon, and the World War II Victory Medal. In block 34 (Wounds Received in Action) is the entry None.
5. On 29 April 2003, the applicant was awarded the Bronze Star Medal based on his award of the Combat Infantryman Badge during World War II by the U.S. Army Human Resources Command (HRC).
6. A review of the available records failed to show any evidence of the applicant being wounded or injured as a result of enemy action or treatment for such wounds being made a matter of record.
7. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) states 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 that 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. While the sincerity of the applicant's claim that he was wounded in combat during World War II is not in doubt, he has failed to provide sufficient evidence to establish that his injuries were incurred as a result of enemy action and that treatment was rendered by medical personnel and made a matter of record.
2. Unfortunately, his records were destroyed during the 1973 fire at the NPRC and it makes it difficult at best to determine not only what happened but when and where it occurred, especially more than 65 years after the fact.
3. In view of the foregoing, there is an insufficient evidentiary basis for granting the applicant's requested relief.
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 him in service to the United States during WWII. 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.
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