World War I record

Gassing was not usually considered a combat injury in WWI. In addition the Purple Heart did not exist as we know it today during WWI, soldiers would have worn a red "wound stripe"

It is possible to request a Purple Heart for WWI soldiers after the fact if you possess official military records which show that the soldier was wounded but for those who were gassed and whose record shows no injury I don't know. 

This article provide more information on the Purple Heart: https://armyhistory.org/the-purple-heart-the-story-of-americas-oldest-military-decoration-and-some-soldier-recipients/

Lisa Sharik

Thank you very much.  That answers the question. Shelly

Shelly Dudley 

Thank you for posting your question on History Hub!

As noted in the above correspondence, you may want to request a copy of your great uncle’s Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF). OMPFs and individual medical reports for enlisted men of the U.S. Army who were separated from the service after October 1912 and before 1960 are in the custody of NARA's National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis. In many cases where personnel records were destroyed in the 1973 fire, proof of service can be provided from other records such as morning reports, payrolls, and military orders, and a certificate of military service will be issued. Please complete a GSA Standard Form 180 and mail it to NARA's National Personnel Records Center, (Military Personnel Records), 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO 63138-1002. Veterans and next of kin of deceased veterans also may use eVetRecs to request records. See eVetRecs Help for instructions. If there is any information requested by the form that you do not know, you may omit it or provide estimates (such as for dates), but the more information you provide, the easier it will be to locate the correct file if it survived the fire. For more information see Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Archival Records Requests.

In some countries the distinction was known as a “wound stripe” but for US soldiers injured during World War I the award was known as a “wound chevron.” There is one series within the Records of the American Expeditionary Forces (World War I), 1848 - 1942 (Record Group 120) that might be of use to you titled Name Files of Dead and Severely Wounded Casualties of Infantry Divisions in the American Expeditionary Forces, 1918 - 1918 (NM-91 568). These files are not complete, but they may be worth sending in a request for. Please note that to access these files you will need to know the unit your great uncle was attached to as well as the exact date he was wounded. Additionally, we have unit records of field hospitals, sanitary trains etc. If you are aware of the medical station he was treated at, you could perform research on the unit records of said station. In some cases rosters of sick and wounded were included. For more information about these non-digitized records, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RR2R) via email at archives2reference@nara.gov.

We invite you to continue the conversation with community members on History Hub, but should you have follow up questions for the staff at Archives II, please email us at archives2reference@nara.gov so that we can assist you further. 

We hope this assists you with your research! 

Sincerely,

Textual Reference Archives II Branch (RR2RR)

[RR2RR 24-11947-VVT]

Thank you for the information.  I do know the unit he was in, but not any information about his time in a field hospital.  My father told me his uncle was gassed and I corresponded with my uncle's son, but did not ask about a hospital. I know that he had trouble breathing because of the damage to his lungs.  I will continue my research.

Again thanks for the additional places to look.

Shelly