officer his claim could apparently be paid under "The Navy Act of October 27, 1943 (57 Stat. 582; 24 U. S. C. 984-989).

SPJGD/D-44197 (Chaiton).

Facts: On July 13, 1944, the claimant was a student crew member aboard a plane which had been dispatched on a routine training mission. Engine trouble developed and a forced landing was made in the Gulf of Mexico 2 miles from Marquesas Keys. The personnel immediately abandoned the plane, at which time the life vest of one of the students failed to inflate. Claimant aided in keeping the man afloat and in finally inflating the life vest. Claimant's wrist watch which he was wearing at the time was so damaged by the salt water that it was beyond repair. This loss, however, was no "in consequence of," the owner having given his attention to the saving of human life by inflating the life vest. Held: Disapproved.

The only provision of the statute under which this claim can be considered is category "Second." The claim, however, is not payable thereunder because even if the claimant had not devoted his attention to the saving of human life his watch would have been ruined by salt water and, therefore, it cannot be said that his watch was damaged "in consequence of its owner having given his attention to the saving of human life."

NOTE. A just and practicable basis for the payment of similar claims would be the fact that they arise out of losses caused by perils of the sea.

SPJGD/D-42202 (Cash).

Facts: On or about January 12, 1944, claimant was in charge of a skiff loaded with construction materials which was proceeding from a target boat to an island in Kailua Bay, Hawaii. In claimant's clothing in the boat was a wallet containing $33. In attempting to land, the skiff was overturned in the surf and claimant's clothing fell into the sea.

Held: Disapproved.

The applicable statute does not cover losses caused by perils of the sea.

5. Losses giving rise to meritorious claims for the payment of which there is no statute or appropriation

SPJGD/D-42246 (Page).

Facts: On or about November 19, 1943, at the officers' school, Fort Monmouth, N. J., claimant was demonstrating the use of ground salutes and booby traps. One of the explosives accidentally went off while claimant was holding it in his hand. Claim is made for the loss of a wrist watch which was destroyed in the explosion, the loss of a ring, and for the loss of clothing that was cut from claimant when he received medical attention.

Held: Disapproved.

There was no negligence on the part of the claimant or others. The loss was the result of an unavoidable accident which arose out of the hazardous nature of the claimant's military service. The War Department is authorized to incur the expense of all medical treatment required in such cases but under present existing statutes there is no way the claimant can be paid for the personal property destroyed as a result of the accident.

SPJGD/D-29629 (Peck).

Facts: On or about July 27, 1943, the claimant was confined to the station hospital at the time a hurricane demolished the bachelor officers' quarters at Fort Crockett, Tex. The claimant's personal property which was in his assigned quarters in this building was destroyed.

Held: Disapproved.

This claim is not within the scope of any of the four categories of the statute. NOTE. Many other members of the same organization were paid for the loss suffered because they were engaged in saving Government property and were thus prevented from attempting to save their own personal property. This claimant was in a helpless situation and could make no effort to save his property but his claim is nevertheless not payable because he was not on duty. There may be some justification for this distinction when it is considered that the others were paid as a matter of reward but such fine distinctions are inclined to cause dissention and lead to morale problems.

SPJGD/D-51070 (Short).

Facts: On December 17, 1942, the claimant arrived on Guadalcanal. Each month thereafter claimant removed his clothing from his footlocker and aired it. Seven months later (during August 1943) claimant left Guadalcanal with part of

his division but was not permitted to take all his personal property. Accordingly, he turned his clothing and equipment over to the rear echelon commander for safekeeping. At the end of approximately 1 month the claimant requested that his clothing be inspected and aired, at which time it was discovered that it was damaged beyond repair by black rot. Upon claimant's return to Guadalcanal it was necessary that he burn the articles for the loss of which claim is made. Held: Disapproved.

The claim is not within the scope of the statute.

NOTE. The applicable statute does not provide for the payment of losses arising out of hazardous condition to which the property of military personnel is subjected in the service.

SPJGD/D-39917 (Retsky).

Facts: On or about January 1, 1943, the claimant was stationed at APO 929. About the middle of January 1943, the claimant became lost in the jungle and was missing for a period of approximately 3 weeks. During that period the claimant's personal property was in his assigned tent and when he returned he found that the property had been eaten by rats and had rotted away.

Held: Disapproved.

The applicable statute contains no provision for the payment of such a claim. SPJGD/D-19332 (Gilmore).

Facts: On or about November 15, 1942, the claimant was admitted to the Musgrove Hospital in Taunton, Somerset, with a skin disease. The medical officer in charge ordered his clothing to be autoclaved. After the autoclave process was completed, the clothing was unserviceable because of permanent wrinkles and discoloration.

Held: Disapproved.

There is no statute available to the War Department for the administrative settlement of such claims.

SPJGD/30124-C (Carvo).

Facts: On or about March 11, 1943, the claimant was engaged in amphibious training maneuvers. The claimant and his property were transported on board a vessel from San Francisco, Calif., to San Diego, Calif., and from that point to Monterey, Calif. During the ship-to-shore movement in Monterey Bay, the claimant's property was loaded into a landing boat. The landing boat capsized about 20 yards from shore, and all of the cargo was lost.

Held: Disapproved.

There is no statute available to the War Department for the administrative settlement of such claims.

SPJGD/D-39172 (Parker).

Facts: On or about May 29, 1943, the claimant left his personal property with his organization at Jemapos, Tunisia, north Africa. On that date, he was evacuated to the Twenty-sixth General Hospital, where he was confined with a nervous disturbance. The claimant's unit went into combat in Sicily and the claimant was evacuated to the United States. The claimant never recovered his property left with his unit.

Held: Disapproved.

The facts do not bring the claim within the limited scope of the statute. It is impossible to determine what did happen to the property and in the absence of evidence to establish that the loss occurred under the circumstances outlined in one of the four categories of the act the claim cannot be paid.

SPJGD/D-46317 (Caldwell).

Facts: Pursuant to orders, claimant was transferred from Fort Monroe to Edgewood Arsenal and subsequently to Baltimore. On or about March 22, 1944, his household goods were moved from his house at Fort Monroe to a Government warehouse on the post. Later, they were moved from the warehouse to Hyattsville, Md., for transportation on a common carrier. Then it was found that some of the property was missing or damaged. The evidence failed to establish whether the loss or damage occurred prior to or during storage in the warehouse.

Held: Disapproved.

Even though negligence be shown on the part of the Government in damaging the property while in the warehouse, compensation cannot be obtained because the storage must be an incident to actual carriage of the property by an agency of the Government. Here it was stored by the Government pending determination of the claimant's final permanent station.

SPJGD/D-28606 (Blain).

Facts: Prior to November 2, 1942, while engaged in combat with the enemy over Buna, New Guinea, the claimant left his personal property, for the loss of which claim is made, at his base camp. During his engagement with the enemy, claimant was wounded and evacuated on November 2, 1942, through various Army hospitals in Australia and finally to the United States. Claimant has made every effort to retrieve his property but it cannot be located.

Held: Disapproved.

The facts do not bring the claim within the limited scope of the statute. It is impossible to determine what did happen to the property and in the absence of evidence to establish that the loss occurred within the four categories of the act the claim cannot be paid.

SPJGD/D-42252 (Vickers).

Facts: On or about May 8, 1943, claimant was evacuated by airplane from Guadalcanal to a hospital in New Hebrides suffering from acute jaundice, malaria, and dengue fever. He left his personal belongings in Guadalcanal. He was later evacuated to a hospital in New Zealand and then to the United States. Independent of claimant's travel orders, the property which had been left in Guadalcanal was sent to the Army effects quartermaster, but only part of it was ever received by him. Claim is made for the loss of the remaining property. Held: Disapproved.

The property must have been lost either by theft from his quarters or lost in some way during transit. In either event the claim is not payable under the statute. It is true that the claimant himself did travel in making a change of station but the property was not transported on his travel orders. It was packed and sent to the effects quartermaster as property the owner of which could not be located.

SPJGD/D-43631-43690 (Harrison).

Facts: The claimants placed their property in organizational storage in Merryville, La., on or about February 3, 1944. The purpose of the storage was to relieve personnel of excess baggage and equipment while claimants' organization On February 24, 1944, the organizational warehouse burned, destroying the personal property of the claimants who were not present at the time of the fire.

was on maneuvers.

Held: Disapproved.

The cause of the fire is not disclosed by the evidence but even if it were caused by the negligence of Government employees the claim could not be paid as there is no statute or appropriation available to the War Department for the administrative settlement of claims for losses caused by the negligence of the Govern

ment.

SPJGD/D-42234 (Shewman).

Facts: On or about March 24, 1944, preparatory to going on furlough and in obedience to standing orders of his battery, claimant left his personal property in the custody of his supply sergeant. The property was stored in a building at Kure Beach, N. C. Later that day, and after claimant had left the post, the building and its contents were destroyed by fire.

Held: Disapproved:

The applicable statute (act of March 4, 1921) does not provide compensation for the loss of property destroyed by fire, other than by enemy action, while the property was in the hands of the Government.

79TH CONGRESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1st Session

{

REPT. 237
Part 2

MILITARY PERSONNEL CLAIMS ACT OF 1945

APRIL 30, 1945.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. McGEHEE, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 2068]

The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 2068) to provide for the settlement of claims of military personnel and civilian employees of the War Department or of the Army for damage to, or loss, destruction, capture, or abandonment of, personal property occurring incident to their service, submit herein the statutes repealed by section 3 of the bill.

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAWS

In compliance with paragraph 2a of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the statutes to be repealed are as follows:

SECTIONS 3483-3488 OF THE REVISED STATUTES (31 U. S. C. 209 214)

SEC. 3483. Every person who sustains damage by the capture or destruction by an enemy, or by the abandonment or destruction by the order of the commanding general, the commanding officer, or quartermaster, of any horse, mule, ox, wagon, cart, sleigh, harness, steamboat or other vessel, railroad-engine or railroad-car, while such property is in the military service, either by impressment or contract; or who sustains damage by the death or abandonment and loss of any horse, mule, or ox, while in the service, in consequence of the failure on the part of the United States to furnish the same with sufficient forage, or whose horse, mule, ox, wagon, cart, boat, sleigh, harness, vessel, railroad-engine, or railroad-car is lost or destroyed by unavoidable accident while such property is in the service, shall be allowed and paid the value thereof at the time when such property was taken into the service, except in cases where the risk to which the property would be exposed was agreed to be incurred by the owner: Provided, It appears that such loss, capture, abandonment, destruction, or death was without any fault or negligence on the part of the owner of the property, and while the property was actually employed in the service of the United States.

SEC. 3484. The two preceding sections shall extend to all cases of the loss of horses by any officer, non-commissioned officer, or private in the military service of the United States, while in the line of his duty in such service, by capture by

the enemy, whenever it shall appear that such officer, non-commissioned officer, or private was ordered by his superior officer to surrender to the enemy, and such capture was made in pursuance of such surrender.

SEC. 3485. Whenever any horse is condemned by a board of officers, on account of his unfitness for service, in consequence of the Government failing to supply forage, such horse and his equipage shall be allowed and paid for: Provided, It shall be proven, by satisfactory evidence, whether oral or written, that the condemned horse and the equipage were turned over to a Quartermaster of the Army, whether any receipt therefor was given and produced, or not.

SEC. 3486. When any minor engaged in the military service of the United States, and provided with a horse or equipments, or with military accouterments, by his parent or guardian, dies, without paying for the property, and the same is lost, captured, destroyed, or abandoned in the manner before mentioned, such parent or guardian shall be allowed pay therefor, on making satisfactory proof, as in other cases, and the further proof that he is entitled thereto by having furnished the same.

SEC. 3487. When any person other than a minor, engaged in the military serv ice, is provided with a horse or equipments, or with military accouterments, by any person, being the owner thereof, who takes the risk of such horse, equipments, or military accouterments, on himself, and the same is lost, captured, destroyed, or abandoned, in the manner before mentioned, such owner shall be allowed pay therefor, on making satisfactory proof, as in other cases, and the further proof that he is entitled thereto, by having furnished the same, and having taken the risk on himself.

SEC. 3488. In executing so much of the preceding sections as provides for payment for steamboats and other vessels, and railroad engines or cars, lost or destroyed while in the military service of the United States, the Third Auditor of the Treasury is authorized, in person, or in such manner as he may deem most compatible with the public interests, to take testimony, and make such investigations as he may deem necessary in adjudicating claims; and for such necessary expenses incurred therein, payment may be made upon proper vouchers, certified and approved by the Third Auditor.

ACT OF MARCH 3, 1885 (23 STAT. 350)

CHAP. 335.-An act to provide for the settlement of the claims of officers and enlisted men of the Army for loss of private property destroyed in the military service of the United States

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the proper accounting officers of the Treas ury be, and they are hereby, authorized and directed to examine into, ascertain, and determine the value of the private property belonging to officers and enlisted men in the military service of the United States which has been, or may hereafter be, lost or destroyed in the military service, under the following circumstances: First. When such loss or destruction was without fault or negligence on the part of the claimant.

Second. Where the private property so lost or destroyed was shipped on board an unseaworthy vessel by order of any officer authorized to give such order or direct such shipment.

Third. Where it appears that the loss or destruction of the private property of the claimant was in consequence of his having given his attention to the saving of the property belonging to the United States which was in danger at the same time and under similar circumstances. And the amount of such loss so ascertained and determined shall be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and shall be in full for all such loss or damage: Provided, That any claim which shall be presented and acted on under authority of this act shall be held as finally determined, and shall never thereafter be reopened or considered: And provided further, That this act shall not apply to losses sustained in time of war or hostilities with Indians: And provided further, That the liability of the Government under this act shall be limited to such articles of personal property as the Secretary of War, in his discretion shall decide to be reasonable, useful, necessary, and proper for such officer or soldier while in quarters, engaged in the public service, in the line of duty: And provided further, That all claims now existing shall be presented within two years and not after from the passage of this act; and all such claims hereafter arising be presented within two years from the occurrence of the loss or destruction.

Approved, March 3rd, 1885.