IN THE CASE OF:	  

		BOARD DATE:	  6 May 2010

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20090018270 


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 reconsideration of his request for award of the Purple Heart.  

2.  The applicant states he was involved in an accident while riding in a 5-ton truck, seated behind the driver of the vehicle, on top of a tool box, and manning a .50 caliber machine gun in a convoy.  The truck he was riding in and a truck in an approaching convoy hit landmines on each side of the road.  This forced both trucks together which crushed his left foot.  He maintains that he spent 5 days in the hospital in Vang Tau and he was released in a walking cast on 24 December 1969.

3.  The applicant provides seven photographs.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  Incorporated herein by reference are military records which were summarized in the previous consideration of the applicant's case by the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) in Docket Number AR20080018437, on 5 March 2009.

2.  The applicant submitted as new evidence seven photographs in which five of the photos show a wrecked 5-ton vehicle.  The other two photographs show a Soldier standing beside a truck with a cast on his left foot.  


DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The regulation governing the requirements for the award of the Purple Heart, as cited in the applicant’s previous request, requires that evidence must be provided to verify that the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.  Therefore, the photographs depicting a wrecked 5-ton vehicle and a Soldier in a cast are insufficient to establish entitlement to the Purple Heart.  

2.  Therefore, the overall merits of the case, including the photographs, are insufficient as a basis to reverse the ABCMR's previous decision.

3.  In view of the foregoing, there is no basis for granting the applicant's request.

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 to amend the decision of the ABCMR set forth in Docket Number AR20080018437, dated 5 March 2009.




      _______ _   __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)                                         AR20090018270



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20090018270



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