IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 9 September 2014
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20140001820
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 widow of a former service member (FSM), requests that the FSM be awarded the Purple Heart.
2. She states the FSM sustained a bullet wound to his lower left leg due to combat with enemy forces in France during World War II. She states the wound is a matter of record and the family wants acknowledgment.
3. She provides:
* letter from a Veterans Benefits Counselor
* Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Rating Decision, dated 4 October 2006
* FL 8-38 (Veterans Administration Award of Disability Compensation or Pension (Service Connected)), dated 17 June 1947, documenting the FSM's award of disability compensation
* WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation - Honorable Discharge)
* Certificate of Death
* Marriage Certificate
CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:
1. The FSM's complete military records are not available for review. A fire destroyed approximately 18 million service members' records at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), St. Louis, MO, in 1973. It is believed his records were lost or destroyed in that fire. This case is being considered using the documents the applicant provides and records from other official sources provided by NPRC.
2. His WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he was inducted into the Army of the United States on 14 June 1941. He served in the European Theater of Operations from 15 September 1943 to 27 October 1945, and he participated in the Normandy campaign. Item 33 (Decorations and Citations) does not show the Purple Heart, and item 34 (Wounds Received in Action) contains the entry "NONE."
3. On 14 November 1945, he was honorably discharged.
4. A review of the Office of the Surgeon General files (commonly referred to as the SGO files) failed to show the FSM was wounded. The only entry pertaining to him shows he was treated for a disease in 1944 and returned to duty. (The SGO files, a health record research project, involved transposing hospital admission card data from the periods of World War II and the Korean Conflict onto magnetic tape. In 1988, the National Research Council made these tape files available to NPRC. It was widely believed that these tapes would become a valuable substitute for the records lost in the NPRC fire of 1973. The best available estimation of the completeness of this project is that it captured at least 95 percent of all combat casualty hospital admissions.)
5. On 18 January 2007, in Army Board for Correction of Military Records Docket Number AR20060008685, the Board considered the FSM's request for correction of his record to show he had received two gunshot wounds in action against the enemy. The Board found that the evidence presented was not sufficient to grant the FSM's request. The analyst who prepared the case opined that there was insufficient evidence to award him the Purple Heart.
6. The applicant provides the following:
a. An FL 8-38, dated 17 June 1947, shows the FSM was awarded compensation for a left leg condition incurred or aggravated during his World War II service. He was rated as 10 percent (%) disabled. The form does not show the cause of the wound.
b. A VA Rating Decision, dated 4 October 2006, shows his 10% service-connected disability rating was continued for residuals of a bullet wound to the left lower leg incurred during World War II. The Rating Decision shows he had a "through and through or deep penetrating wound of short track from a single bullet, small shell or shrapnel fragment, without explosive effect of a high velocity missile." The Rating Decision does not address the cause of the wound.
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. To award the Purple Heart there must be substantiating evidence verifying that a wound was the result of hostile action and required treatment by medical personnel and that the medical treatment was made a matter of official record.
2. The available evidence shows the FSM was wounded in the lower left leg during his World War II service. Unfortunately, there is no evidence showing how he received this wound. In the absence of documentary evidence showing he was wounded as a result of hostile action, there is an insufficient basis upon which to award the Purple Heart or correct his record to show this award.
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 for correction of the records of the individual concerned.
_______ _ __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) AR20140001820
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