APPLICANT REQUESTS: Award of two Purple Hearts and the Combat Infantryman Badge. He states he sustained a head wound in November 1968 and a wound to his left leg in April 1969.
PURPOSE: To determine whether the application was submitted within the time limit established by law, and if not, whether it is in the interest of justice to excuse the failure to timely file.
EVIDENCE OF RECORD: The applicant's military records show:
He entered active duty in January 1968 and served in Vietnam as a truck driver (series 64) between November 1968 and January 1970. On 27 January 1970 he was released from active duty. Neither his DD Form 214 or his DA Form 20 (enlisted qualification record) reflect entitlement to any Purple Hearts or the Combat Infantryman Badge and item 40 (wounds) on his DA Form 20 is blank. He authenticated his DA Form 20 on 24 January 1970 and his DD Form 214 on the date of separation.
Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides that the Purple Heart is awarded for wounds sustained as a result of hostile action. Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment by a medical officer, and the treatment must have been made a matter of official record. There is no evidence, and he has not provided any, which confirms he was wounded while in Vietnam. Attempts to secure copies of his VA file, which may contain copies of his service medical records, were unsuccessful.
There are basically three requirements for award of the Combat Infantryman Badge. The soldier must be an infantryman (11 series specialty), assigned to an infantry unit during such time as the unit is engaged in active ground combat, and must have actively participated in such ground combat. The applicant did not hold an infantry specialty and is therefore not eligible for the Combat Infantryman Badge.
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. Failure to file within 3 years may be excused by a correction board if it finds it would be in the interest of justice to do so.
DISCUSSION: The alleged error or injustice was, or with reasonable diligence should have been discovered on 27 January 1970, the date his discharge. The time for the applicant to file a request for correction of any error or injustice expired on 27 January 1973.
The application is dated 3 November 1993 and the applicant has not explained or otherwise satisfactorily demonstrated by competent evidence that it would be in the interest of justice to excuse the failure to apply within the time allotted.
DETERMINATION: The subject application was not submitted within the time required. The applicant has not presented and the records do not contain sufficient justification to conclude that it would be in the interest of justice to grant the relief requested or to excuse the failure to file within the time prescribed by law.
BOARD VOTE:
EXCUSE FAILURE TO TIMELY FILE
GRANT FORMAL HEARING
CONCUR WITH DETERMINATION
Karl F. Schneider
Acting Director
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