RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:        08 September 2005
      DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20050000769


      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             |


      The following members, a quorum, were present:

|     |Mr. William D. Powers             |     |Chairperson          |
|     |                                  |     |Member               |
|     |                                  |     |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.

2.  The applicant states, in effect, that he was injured in a mortar attack
one night while he was operating a 5,000 gallon water tanker.  He was on
top of the water tanker when they come under mortar attack.  In his haste
to get off the tanker and to get into a sandbag bunker about 50 yards away,
he came off the tanker very quickly and injured his leg.  He limped over to
the sandbag bunker and his Soldier friends pointed out the heavy bleeding
to him.  They took him to the field hospital where a woman officer stitched
up the five inch wound below his left knee.  It happened so fast that he is
not aware if he was hit by shrapnel or if he cut himself on the way down
from the tanker.  He was asked by medical treatment personnel how the
injury occurred but he doesn’t recall what his response was.  Having had 34
years to look back on this event that happened while he was a very young
man, he thinks that he should have been awarded the Purple Heart for being
wounded in action.

3.  The applicant provides a copy of his DD Form 214, Armed Forces of the
United States, Report of Transfer or Discharge, and a copy of his DA Form
20, Enlisted Qualification Record, in support of his request.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant is requesting correction of an alleged injustice which
occurred on 16 November 1970.  The application submitted in this case is
dated 5 January 2005.

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 allows the Army
Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to excuse failure to file
within the 3-year statute of limitations if the ABCMR determines that it
would be in the interest of justice to do so.  In this case, the ABCMR will
conduct a review of the merits of the case to determine if it would be in
the interest of justice to excuse the applicant’s failure to timely file.

3.  The applicant’s record shows that he enlisted in the Regular Army on
17 November 1967.  He completed his basic combat training and his advanced
individual training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.  After completing all
required training, he was awarded the military occupational specialty
(MOS), 70A (Clerk).

4.  The applicant was assigned to Vietnam and he arrived there on 21 April
1968. He was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 92nd
Engineer Battalion (Construction).  The applicant served in Vietnam until
21 November 1969 when he was assigned to Fort Carson, Colorado, to complete
his military service obligation.

5.  The applicant was released from active duty on 16 November 1970, under
the provisions of Army Regulation (AR) 635-200, Expiration of Term of
Service, in the rank and pay grade of Specialist Four, E-4, with 3 years
active military service.

6.  Item 24 (Decorations, Medals, Badges, Commendations, Citations and
Campaign Ribbons Awarded or Authorized), of his DD Form 214, shows he was
awarded the following awards:  National Defense Service Medal; the Vietnam
Service Medal, with five bronze service stars; and the Republic of Vietnam
Campaign Medal, with 60 Device.

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

8.  Item 40 (Wounds), of the applicant's DA Form 20, is blank.  There is no
entry in Item 41 (Awards and Decorations), of the DA Form 20, to show the
applicant was awarded the Purple Heart.  There are no orders in the
applicant's military personnel records awarding him the Purple Heart.

9.  A Standard Form (SF) 600, Chronological Record of Medical Care, on file
in the applicant's service record has an entry dated 4 September 1968.  The
entry, in pertinent part states, ". . . . patient states that while he was
leaving the EM (enlisted men's) Club about an hour ago he fell into a ditch
and cut his left knee."

10.  The applicant's DD Form 214 shows entitlement to the Vietnam Service
Medal, with five bronze service stars; however, it does not show the
correct number of silver and bronze service stars to which the applicant is
entitled for his campaign participation.

11.  While in Vietnam, the applicant participated in the following six
campaigns:  the Vietnam Counteroffensive, Phase IV, which extended from 2
April through 30 June 1968; the Vietnam Counteroffensive, Phase V, which
extended from 1 July through 1 November 1968; the Vietnam Counteroffensive,
Phase VI,
which extended from 2 November 1968 through 22 February 1969; the Tet 69
Counteroffensive, which extended from 23 February through 8 June 1969; the
Vietnam Summer-Fall 1969, which extended from 9 June through 31 October
1969; and the Vietnam Winter-Spring 1970, which extended from 1 November
1969 through 30 April 1970.

12.  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.

13.  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 was
awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation, for the period 1 January 1968
through 30 June 1969, by Department of the Army General Order (DAGO) Number
2, dated 1971, and for the period 1 July 1969 through 30 June 1970, by DAGO
Number 51, dated 1971; and the Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Honor
Medal, First Class, Unit Citation, for the period 3 August 1967 through 9
February 1970, by DAGO 43, dated 1970.  These unit awards are not shown on
the applicant's DD Form 214.

14.  The applicant's unit, a subordinate unit of the United States Army
Vietnam, was cited for award of the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross,
with Palm, Unit Citation, for the period 20 July 1965 to 28 March 1973, in
DAGO Number 8, dated 1974.

15.  AR 670-1, chapter 29, prescribes policy and guidance for wear of U.S.
and foreign unit awards.  This regulation states that a soldier may wear
the unit award permanently if the individual was assigned to, and present
for duty with the unit any time during the period cited; or was attached by
competent orders to, and present for duty with the unit during the entire
period, or for at least thirty consecutive days of the period cited.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The evidence does not support the applicant's contention that he was
wounded in action while he served in Vietnam.

2.  The applicant's name does not appear on the Vietnam Casualty List.
There is no indication in Item 40 in his qualification record that he was
wounded in action.

3.  In his application to the Board, the applicant stated that he had
sustained a shrapnel wound or he had cut himself below the left knee on his
way down from a tanker truck while they were under mortar attack.  A SF 600
on file in the applicant's service record shows that the wound he sustained
on the left knee, by his admission to medical personnel on 4 September
1968, occurred when he fell into a ditch after he left the EM Club.

4.  Based on the evidence, the applicant is not entitled to award of the
Purple Heart and to have it added to his DD Form 214.

5.  The applicant participated in six campaigns during his tour of duty in
Vietnam. He is therefore entitled to award of one silver service star and
one bronze service stars to be affixed to his already-awarded Vietnam
Service Medal, as opposed to the 5 bronze service stars currently shown in
conjunction with his Vietnam Service Medal, on his DD Form 214.

6.  The applicant served in a unit at a time it was awarded the
Meritorious Unit Commendation, two awards, in effect, the Meritorious
Unit Commendation, with oak leaf cluster; the Republic of Vietnam
Gallantry Cross, with Palm, Unit Citation; and the Republic of Vietnam
Civil Actions Honor Medal, First Class, Unit Citation.  The applicant is
entitled to these unit awards and to have them shown on his DD Form 214.

7.  Records show the applicant should have discovered the alleged error or
injustice now under consideration on 16 November 1970; therefore, the time
for the applicant to file a request for correction of any error or
injustice expired on 15 November 1973.  The applicant did not file within
the 3-year statute of limitations and has not provided a compelling
explanation or evidence to show that it would be in the interest of justice
to excuse failure to timely file in this case.

8.  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 3 of the BOARD
DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION section below.
BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___jtm___  ___wdp _  ____ljo__  DENY APPLICATION

BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

1.  The Board determined that 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.  As a result, the Board further determined that there is no evidence
provided which shows that it would be in the interest of justice to excuse
the applicant's failure to timely file this application within the 3-year
statute of limitations prescribed by law.  Therefore, there is insufficient
basis to waive the statute of limitations for timely filing or for
correction of the records of the individual concerned.

3.  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 by:

      a.  deleting the Vietnam Service Medal, with five bronze service
stars from the applicant's DD Form 214;

      b.  awarding the applicant the Vietnam Service Medal, with one silver
service star and one bronze service star and adding this award to his DD
Form 214;
      c.  awarding the applicant the Meritorious Unit Commendation, with oak
leaf cluster; the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross, with Palm, Unit
Citation; and
d.  the Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Honor Medal, First Class, Unit
Citation; and adding these unit awards to his DD Form 214.




                                  ________ ______
                                            CHAIRPERSON


                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20050000769                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |                                        |
|DATE BOARDED            |20050908                                |
|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.                      |                                        |
|4.                      |                                        |
|5.                      |                                        |
|6.                      |                                        |


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