RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:            OCTOBER 5, 2004
      DOCKET NUMBER:    AR2004102026


      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             |
|     |Mr. Luis Almodova                 |     |Analyst              |

      The following members, a quorum, were present:

|     |Ms. Kathleen A. Newman            |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. John Meixell                  |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. Larry C. Bergquist            |     |Member               |

      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, in effect, that he be awarded the Purple Heart
and the Combat Infantryman Badge and that these awards be added to his
DD Form 214, Armed Forces of the United States, Report of Transfer or
Discharge.

2.  The applicant states, in effect, that he never returned to his original
unit.  He was injured twice.  Once from an explosion on Landing Zone Carol
in 1968 and once in a minefield when he sprained his foot badly.  He wants
these awards because they affect his VA (Department of Veterans Affairs)
benefits.

3.  The applicant provides a copy of his DD Form 214 and a copy of a
DA Form 3349, Medical Condition – Physical Profile Record, in support of
his request.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant was inducted into the Army of the United States on 18
January 1968.  He completed his basic combat training and his advanced
individual training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.  After completing all
required training, he was awarded the military occupational specialty
(MOS), 11B, Light Weapons Infantryman.

2.  The applicant was assigned to Vietnam and he arrived there on 18 June
1968.  He was assigned to Company C, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry, 1st
Cavalry Division.  The applicant served in Vietnam until 31 October 1969
when he was returned to the United States on emergency leave.

3.  On completion of the applicant's emergency leave, he was attached to
Fort Wadsworth, New York, on 1 November 1968.  On 20 February 1969, he was
assigned to Fort Dix, New Jersey, to complete his required service.

4.  The applicant was released from active duty on 17 January 1970, under
the provisions of Army Regulation (AR) 635-200, at the expiration of his
term of service, in the rank and pay grade of Private First Class, E-3,
with 2 years, active military service.

5.  Item 24 (Decorations, Medals, Badges, Commendations, Citations and
Campaign Ribbons Awarded or Authorized), of his DD Form 214, shows he was
awarded the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, and Good Conduct Medal.  The Purple
Heart and the Combat Infantryman Badge are not shown among his awards.

6.  The applicant's name does not appear on the Vietnam Casualty List.

7.  A properly completed DD Form 1380, U.S. Field Medical Card, dated 28
July 1968, which is in the applicant's medical records, shows that he
sustained a fragmentation wound to his left knee from a demolitions charge,
on 27 July 1968.  The injury was not related to enemy action.

8.  A DD Form 1380, U.S. Field Medical Card, dated 8 October 1968, which
was not fully completed, which is in the applicant's medical records, shows
that he sustained an acute sprain of the left ankle.  There is no
indication on the card that the injury was related to enemy action.

9.  There are no orders in the applicant's service personnel records to
show that he was awarded the Purple Heart or the Combat Infantryman Badge.
A search of the general orders consolidation maintained by the Award
Branch, Human Resources Command, was made for orders awarding the applicant
the Purple Heart; however, no orders were found.

10.  There is no entry in Item 41 (Awards and Decorations), of the
applicant's DA Form 20, showing he was awarded the Purple Heart or the
Combat Infantryman Badge.  Item 40 (Brief Description of Wounds), of the
applicant's DA Form 20, Enlisted Qualification Record, is blank.

11.  The DA Form 3349 that the applicant submitted in support of his
request, in section B (Physical Profile), item 6 has the entry,
"Fragmentation wound of left knee;" however, there is no indication on this
form, as on others, that the injury was related to enemy action.

12.  The applicant's DD Form 214 shows entitlement to the Vietnam Service
Medal; however, it does not show the bronze service stars to which the
applicant is entitled for campaign participation.

13.  While in Vietnam, the applicant participated in the following two
campaigns:  the Vietnam Counteroffensive, Phase IV, which extended from 2
April through 30 June 1968 and the Vietnam Counteroffensive, Phase V, which
extended from 1 July through 1 November 1968.

14.  AR 600-8-22, in pertinent part, authorizes award of a bronze service
star, based on qualifying service, for each campaign listed in its Appendix
B and states that authorized bronze service stars will be worn on the
appropriate service medal, in this case, the Vietnam Service Medal.  The
regulation further provides that one silver service star will be worn in
lieu of five bronze service stars.

15.  DA Pamphlet 672-3, Unit Citation and Campaign Participation Credit
Register, dated 29 January 1988, which lists unit awards received by units
serving in Vietnam, shows that the unit the applicant was assigned to,
Company C, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, was awarded
the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross, with Palm, Unit Citation, for the
period 9 August 1965 through 19 May 1969, by Department of the Army 59,
dated 1969.  This unit award is not shown on the applicant's DD Form 214.

16.  AR 600-8-22 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 (emphasis added) the wound must have required
treatment, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of
official record.

17.  AR 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that the Combat Infantryman
Badge is awarded to infantry officers and to enlisted and warrant officer
persons who have an infantry MOS.  They must have served in active ground
combat while assigned or attached to an infantry unit of brigade,
regimental or smaller size.  The Awards Branch of the U.S. Army Human
Resources Command (formerly known as the Total Army Personnel Command) has
advised, in similar cases, that during the Vietnam era the Combat
Infantryman Badge was awarded only to enlisted individuals who held and
served in MOS 11B, 11C, 11F, 11G, or 11H.  US Army Vietnam Regulation 672-
1, in Appendix V, added, "the term 'smaller size' infantry unit used in
paragraph 96, AR 672-5-1, is a unit, platoon or company size.  For example,
personnel possessing an infantry MOS in a rifle squad or a cavalry platoon
of an armored cavalry troop would be eligible for award of the Combat
Infantryman Badge if other criteria are also met."

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant sustained a fragmentation wound to the left knee in
Vietnam on 29 July 1968.  The applicant also sustained an acute sprain of
the left knee in Vietnam on 8 October 1968.  The DD Forms 1380 that were
completed show
no indication that the injuries were related to enemy action.  The
applicant is therefore not eligible for award of the Purple Heart and to
have it added to his DD Form 214.

2.  The applicant was a rifleman.  He possessed an infantry MOS and was
assigned to a company in a cavalry troop of the 1st Cavalry Division.  He
served in Vietnam from 18 June 1968 through 31 October 1968 and through two
campaigns of that war; however, there is no evidence that the other
criteria – that he served in active ground combat - were also met.  The
applicant is therefore not eligible for award of the Combat Infantryman
Badge and to have it added to his DD Form 214.

3.  The applicant participated in two campaigns during his tour of duty in
Vietnam.  He is therefore entitled to award of two bronze service stars to
be affixed to his already-awarded Vietnam Service Medal and to have them
shown on his separation document.

4.  The applicant served in a unit, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry,
1st Infantry Division, which was awarded the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry
Cross, with Palm, Unit Citation, while he was a member of the unit.  He is
therefore entitled to this unit award and to have it added to his
separation document.

5.  Evidence shows that the applicant’s records contain administrative
error which does not require action by the Board.  Therefore,
administrative correction of the applicant's records will be accomplished
by the Case Management Support Division (CMSD), St. Louis, Missouri, as
outlined by the Board in paragraph 2 of the BOARD
DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION section below.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

kn______  jm______  lb______  DENY APPLICATION

BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

1.  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.
2.  The Board determined that administrative error in the records of the
individual should be corrected.  Therefore, the Board requests that the
CMSD-St. Louis administratively correct the records of the individual
concerned to show:  that the applicant was awarded two bronze service stars
to be affixed to his already-awarded Vietnam Service Medal, to denote his
participation in two campaigns while he served in the Republic of Vietnam
and, that the applicant was awarded the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry
Cross, with Palm, Unit Citation, and having these awards added to his DD
Form 214.





            ___Kathleen A. Newman___
                    CHAIRPERSON


                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR2004102026                            |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |                                        |
|DATE BOARDED            |20041005                                |
|TYPE OF DISCHARGE       |                                        |
|DATE OF DISCHARGE       |                                        |
|DISCHARGE AUTHORITY     |                                        |
|DISCHARGE REASON        |                                        |
|BOARD DECISION          |DENY                                    |
|REVIEW AUTHORITY        |                                        |
|ISSUES         1.  46   |107.0000                                |
|2.  61                  |107.0015                                |
|3.  157                 |107.0111                                |
|4.                      |                                        |
|5.                      |                                        |
|6.                      |                                        |



-----------------------
[pic]