IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 3 March 2015
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20140012897
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 his records be corrected by awarding him the Prisoner of War (POW) Medal and correcting his WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record and Report of Separation Honorable Discharge) to show he was interned as a POW.
2. The applicant states that he spent the last 7 months of his service in hospitals after being interned as a POW and was never discharged.
3. The applicant provides War Department letters and telegrams related to his POW status and a copy of his WD AGO Form 53-55.
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 applicant's 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 applicant's 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 National Personnel Records Center in 1973. It is believed the applicant's records were lost or destroyed in that fire. However, the documents provided by the applicant are sufficient to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case.
3. The applicant was inducted in New Bedford, Massachusetts on 17 November 1942. He completed his training as a radio operator and departed for the European Theater of Operations on 25 August 1944. He participated in the Rhineland campaign with Company B, 3rd Tank Battalion and was captured by German forces in France on 17 November 1944. He was interned in Bohm Leipa, Germany in Stalag 4-C until his release on 12 May 1945.
4. On 18 December 1945, he was honorably discharged at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. His WD AGO Form 53-55 shows he served 3 years, 1 month and 2 days of active service and was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Ribbon, WWII Victory Medal, Purple Heart, and Bronze Star Medal. It contains no information related to his POW status.
5. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) states the POW Medal was authorized on 8 November 1985 and is awarded to individuals who in past armed conflicts were taken prisoner or held captive after 5 April 1917. The POW Medal is to be issued only to those U.S. military personnel and other personnel granted creditable U.S. military service who were taken prisoner and held captive:
* while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States
* while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force
* while serving with friendly forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party
* by foreign armed forces that are hostile to the United States, under circumstances which the Secretary concerned finds to have been comparable to those under which persons have generally been held captive by enemy armed forces during periods of armed conflict
6. Army Regulation 635-8 (Separation Processing and Documents) establishes the standardized policy for preparing and distributing discharge documents. It directs that, in the case of prisoners of war, the unit of assignment, country, and dates of capture and release will be entered in the Remarks section of the discharge document.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The applicant was serving with Company B, 3rd Tank Battalion when he was captured and interned by German Forces as a POW in Stalag 4-C in Bohm Leipa, Germany from 17 November 1944 to 12 May 1945.
2. Accordingly, the applicant is entitled to be awarded the POW Medal and to have it entered on his WD AGO Form 53-55.
3. Additionally, his WD AGO Form 53-55 should be corrected by adding to item 55 (Remarks) the entry "POW Company B, 3rd Tank Battalion, Bohm Leipa, Germany 17 November 1944 to 12 May 1945."
BOARD VOTE:
____X___ ____X___ ____X___ GRANT FULL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION
BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:
1. 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 awarding him the POW Medal; adding the POW Medal to his WD AGO Form
53-55; and adding the entry "POW Company B, 3rd Tank Battalion, Bohm Leipa, Germany 17 November 1944 to 12 May 1945" to item 55 or his WD AGO Form 53-55.
2. The Board wants the applicant and all others to know that the sacrifices he made in service to the United States during WWII are deeply appreciated. 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.
ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20140012897
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20140012897
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