IN THE CASE OF: BOARD DATE: 15 May 2014 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20130016156 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 award of the Purple Heart for a concussion injury caused by an enemy-generated explosion in the Republic of Vietnam. 2. The applicant states in late March or early April of 1969 his right ear drum was ruptured by an enemy B-40 rocket exploding near the bunker he was in during an attack on his position in a popular force outpost. Being the commander of his district advisory team, he shrugged it off and lived with it until it got infected some time later. When stationed at Fort Meade, MD an Army doctor immediately sent him to an ear, nose, throat (ENT) specialist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A team of specialists operated on him by taking a graft from his right arm and grafting it as an eardrum. 3. The applicant provides: * Report of Medical Examination, dated 18 February 1972 * Report of Medical History, dated 18 February 1972 * an excerpt from Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) 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. He previously served 5 years and 26 days of active service in the Regular Army in an enlisted status. On 10 February 1967, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve and entered extended active duty. 3. He was assigned to the U.S. Military Assistance Command in the Republic of Vietnam from 18 January 1969 to 1 January 1970. 4. Item 21 (Awards and Decorations) of his DA Form 66 (Officer Qualification Record) does not show he was awarded the Purple Heart. 5. On 3 April 1972, he was released from active duty. His DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) does not show he was awarded the Purple Heart. 6. His service medical records were not available for review. 7. Review of The Adjutant General's Office, Casualty Division's Vietnam casualty listing does not show the applicant's name as a casualty. 8. Review of the Awards and Decorations Computer-Assisted Retrieval System (ADCARS), an index of general orders issued during the Vietnam era between 1965 and 1973 maintained by the Awards and Decorations Branch of the United States Army Human Resources Command, failed to reveal any orders for the Purple Heart pertaining to the applicant. 9. According to the Report of Medical Examination and Report of Medical History provided by the applicant, he had a tympanic membrane graft (right ear) due to a perforated tympanic membrane in April 1965 and December 1971 at Fort Hood, TX, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. However, there are no entries indicating that his perforated ear drum was the result of hostile action. 10. Army Regulation 672-5-1 (Military Awards), then in effect, provided that the Purple Heart was awarded to any member of an Armed Force or any civilian national of the United States who while serving under competent authority in any capacity with one of the U.S. Armed Services had been wounded, killed, or who had died as a result of 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 required treatment by medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: 1. The medical records submitted by the applicant do show he suffered a perforated ear drum. However, the records state the first graft was performed in April 1965, 2 years prior to him going to Vietnam. A second graft was performed in December 1971. There is no evidence to show his perforated ear drum was the result of an enemy explosion. 2. In the absence of evidence showing he was wounded as a result of hostile action, the wound required treatment by medical personnel, and the treatment was made a matter of official record, there is an insufficient evidentiary basis for awarding the Purple Heart in this case. 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) AR20130016156 3 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1 ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20130016156 2 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1