RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:            6 May 2004
      DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2004100635


      I certify that hereinafter is recorded the true and complete record
of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in
the case of the above-named individual.

|     |Mr. Carl W. S. Chun               |     |Director             |
|     |Mrs. Prevolia Harper              |     |Analyst              |


  The following members, a quorum, were present:

|     |Mr. Thomas D. Howard, Jr.         |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. James E. Anderholm            |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. Ronald J. Weaver              |     |Member               |

      The applicant and counsel if any, did not appear before the Board.

      The Board considered the following evidence:

      Exhibit A - Application for correction of military records.

      Exhibit B - Military Personnel Records (including advisory opinion,
if any).

THE APPLICANT'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant requests award of the Purple Heart.

2.  The applicant states that his head injury is the result of a mortar
attack in which he was struck by shrapnel while serving with his unit in
Vietnam.  The applicant continues that, at the time the incident occurred,
he believed he had been hit by dirt or a rock because he only bled for a
short period of time and he was more interested in getting in his foxhole.
However, in December 2000, while undergoing an MRI doctors discovered a
piece of shrapnel in his head.

3.  The applicant contends that the mortar attack in Vietnam is the only
time in his life that he would have had an injury to the head that would
have left a piece of metal.

4.  The applicant provides two self-authored letters dated 7 June 2002 and
9 July 2002, and a letter from a physician at Carraway Occupational Health,
dated         9 March 2001.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1. The applicant is requesting correction of an error which occurred on
12 December 1968, the date the applicant was separated from active duty.
The application submitted in this case is dated 27 May 2002.  However, the
application was incomplete and the applicant was notified in writing to
submit additional documentation and to file a new application.  The
applicant submitted information to a Member of Congress on 29 December
2003, but did not file a new application.  As a result, the application
date for this case is 29 December 2003, which is within the statute of
limitations for the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR).

2.  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
ABCMR to excuse an applicant’s failure to timely file within the 3-year
statute of limitations if the ABCMR determines that it would be in the
interest of justice to do so.  The ABCMR has elected to conduct a
substantive review of this case to determine if it would be in the interest
of justice to excuse the applicant’s failure to timely file.

3.  The applicant entered active duty on 13 December 1965.  He completed
training and was awarded military occupational specialty 63C4H, General
Vehicle Repairman.  He served in Vietnam from 29 January 1966 to 31 January
1967.  He was honorably separated from active duty on 12 December 1968.

4.  The applicant's service personnel records contain two DD Forms 214
(Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) for the
periods
16 September 1964 to 12 December 1965 and 13 December 1965 to 12 December
1968.  These DD Forms 214 do not show that the applicant was awarded the
Purple Heart.

5.  Items 24 and 26 (Decorations, Medals, Badges, Commendations, Citations
and Campaign Ribbons Awarded or Authorized) of the applicant's DD Forms 214
for the periods of service listed do not show award of the Purple Heart.

6.  There are no orders in the applicant's service personnel records
supporting  award of the Purple Heart.  There is also no evidence which
shows that the applicant was wounded or treated for wounds as a result of
hostile action.

7.  The applicant's DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) does not
show an entry in item 40 (Wounds).  Item 9 of this form (Awards,
Decorations and Campaigns) does not show award of the Purple Heart.

8.  The applicant's name is not listed on the Vietnam Casualty Roster.

9.  The applicant's service personnel records do not contain any medical
records that show the applicant was wounded or treated for wounds as a
result of hostile action.

10.  The applicant's service personnel records contain a copy of his
request for the Purple Heart to the National Personnel Records Center,
dated 18 April 2002. This request contains a copy of a Department of
Veterans Affairs (DVA) rating
decisional document, dated 30 January 2002.  The DVA document shows that
the applicant was awarded a 30 percent rating for internal derangement of
the left knee and a 10 percent rating for residuals of fracture of the
right index finger. The applicant was granted a 0 percent rating hearing
loss of the left ear.  The DVA document does not reference the applicant's
head injury.

11.  The applicant provides a letter from a physician at the Carraway
Occupational Health Center which states that the applicant's MRI report
showed an artifact from a small metallic foreign body in his right frontal
scalp area.

12.  Army regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple
Heart is awarded for wounds 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, and the
medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.



DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant contends that he is entitled to award of the Purple Heart
due to a head injury he received as a result of a mortar attack in Vietnam
during which he was struck by shrapnel.

2.  There is no evidence which shows that the applicant was wounded or
treated for wounds as a result of hostile action.  The applicant's DD Forms
214 which he authenticated in his own hand do not show award of the Purple
Heart.

3.  The applicant's service personnel records contain a DVA document
pertaining to the applicant's disability claim for his medical conditions.
The DVA document does not indicate that he sustained wounds from hostile
action or that he was treated by military medical authorities from wounds
resulting from hostile action.

4.  The applicant's military records in this case do not show he was
wounded or treated for wounds resulting from hostile action.  Therefore,
the statements from the applicant and his physician, submitted over thirty-
five years after the fact, are not sufficient by themselves as a basis for
award of the Purple Heart in this case.

5.  In the absence of records which show the applicant was wounded as a
result of hostile action or was treated for wounds resulting from hostile
action, there is insufficient evidence upon which to base award of the
Purple Heart in this case.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___TDH__  _RJW__  _JEA____  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.



            ___Thomas D. Howard, Jr._
                    CHAIRPERSON

                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR2004100635                            |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |                                        |
|DATE BOARDED            |2004/05/06                              |
|TYPE OF DISCHARGE       |                                        |
|DATE OF DISCHARGE       |                                        |
|DISCHARGE AUTHORITY     |                                        |
|DISCHARGE REASON        |                                        |
|BOARD DECISION          |DENY                                    |
|REVIEW AUTHORITY        |                                        |
|ISSUES         1.       |                                        |
|2.                      |                                        |
|3.                      |                                        |
|4.                      |                                        |
|5.                      |                                        |
|6.                      |                                        |