IN THE CASE OF: BOARD DATE: 27 October 2009 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20090009269 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, in effect, that his military records be corrected to show the award of the Purple Heart. 2. The applicant essentially contends that he was wounded by enemy gunfire in a firefight while assigned to the 1st Battalion, 30th Artillery, and that he was taken to a local field hospital for treatment. He also claims that he was awarded the Purple Heart in 1966. 3. The applicant provides his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge); his DD Form 215 (Correction to DD Form 214); a Standard Form 180 (Request Pertaining to Military Records), dated 22 May 2007; and a letter, dated 1 April 2009, from the Army Review Boards Agency Support Division in St. Louis, Missouri, in support of this application. 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 show that he was inducted into the Army of the United States on 22 September 1965. He completed basic and advanced individual training and was awarded military occupational specialty 13A (Basic Field Artilleryman). He departed for the Republic of Vietnam on 10 February 1966 and served with Battery C, 1st Battalion, 30th Artillery. He returned to the continental United States on 9 February 1967 and served at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, until he was honorably released from active duty on 21 September 1967. The DD Form 214 that was issued to him at the time of his release from active duty shows that he was awarded the Army Good Conduct Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. 3. Item 40 (Wounds) of the applicant’s DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) does not contain any entries that indicate he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action. Item 41 (Awards and Decorations) of the DA Form 20 also does not show that he was awarded the Purple Heart. There are no orders in his military records awarding him the Purple Heart and a search of the U.S. Army Human Resources Command Awards and Decorations Computer-Assisted Retrieval System, a web-based index containing roughly 611,000 general orders issued between 1965 and 1973 for the Vietnam era, also failed to produce any orders awarding him the Purple Heart. Additionally, the applicant’s name is not listed on the Vietnam casualty roster. Further, there is no evidence in his military personnel records which shows that he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action. 4. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained 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 been treated by a medical officer, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official records. Each approved award of the Purple Heart must exhibit all of the following factors: wound, injury, or death must have been the result of enemy or hostile act, international terrorist attack, or friendly fire; the wound or injury must have required treatment by medical officials; and the records of medical treatment must have been made a matter of official Army records. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: 1. The applicant contends that his military records should be corrected to show the award of the Purple Heart. 2. The applicant's claim that he was wounded in action and awarded the Purple Heart in 1966 was noted; however, there is no evidence in the applicant's military records and the applicant failed to provide any evidence to corroborate his claim that he was wounded in action and awarded the Purple Heart. 3. Absent evidence which conclusively proves by a preponderance of the evidence that he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action, that he was treated by medical personnel at the time for wounds or injuries received as a result of hostile action, and that this medical treatment was made a matter of official record, there is no basis for awarding the applicant the Purple Heart or correcting his military records to show the award of the Purple Heart. 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) AR20090009269 3 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1 ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20090009269 2 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1