RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:        30 August 2007
      DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20070006113


      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.

|     |Ms. Catherine C. Mitrano          |     |Director             |
|     |Mr. Luis Almodova                 |     |Senior Analyst       |


      The following members, a quorum, were present:

|     |Mr. Bernard P. Ingold             |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. Thomas M. Ray                 |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. Gerald J. Purcell             |     |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, reconsideration of his earlier
request for award of the Purple Heart.

2.  The applicant states, in effect, he received the Board's partial
decision on his application for the correction of his record and
disagrees with this decision.  He is therefore submitting a statement
from the person alleged to have been his wing man on the day he was shot
down and crashed.

3.  He adds that he understands that the connection as to the cause of his
injuries is the point of contention and hopefully the statement will fill
in that point. He continues by stating that doctors who treated [the
wounded] didn't care how the injuries happened, their job was to stop the
bleeding and return that person to duty.

4.  In support of his request for reconsideration, the applicant
submitted a statement from the person alleged to have been an eyewitness
to the event.

COUNSEL'S REQUEST, STATEMENT AND EVIDENCE:

The applicant has named counsel; however, counsel has provided no other
evidence or argument, except to ask the Board to "take appropriate action."

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  Incorporated herein by reference are military records that were
summarized in the previous consideration of the applicant's case by the
Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR), in Docket Number
AR20060010567, on 20 March 2007.

2.  In the previous consideration of the applicant's request, the Board
acknowledged the medical record he provided revealed he had been treated
for lacerations to his face and leg in September 1967; however, the medical
treatment record provided by the applicant failed to outline the
circumstances under which these injuries were received.

3.  The applicant's records also revealed he was awarded a Purple Heart for
wounds he received in action against a hostile enemy on 7 January 1968;
however, his name does not appear on the Vietnam Casualty Listing for
the wound he sustained on 19 September 1967.

4.  At the time the applicant's case was being processed, a review of
historical records for his unit maintained at the National Archives was
conducted.  This review failed to show he was wounded in action in the
Republic of Vietnam in September 1967.

5.  A search of the US National Archives and Records Administration
Casualty Information System Database, College Park, Maryland, was
conducted using last name, last name and first name, warrant officer
service number, and social security account number.  This search also did
not return any information to indicate the applicant was wounded in action
on 19 September 1967 by a hostile enemy.

6.  On 31 October 1969, the applicant underwent a separation physical
examination.  In conjunction with this separation physical examination, he
completed a Standard Form (SF) 89, Report of Medical History.  To the
question in Item 34, "Have you consulted or been treated by clinics,
physicians, healers, or other practitioners within the past 5 years?"  The
applicant wrote, in his own hand, "Lacerations leg & face Sept 67."  The
applicant did not elaborate further on the genesis of the lacerations to
his face and leg.  The examining physician did not make a written comment
to summarize what the applicant might have said about these lacerations.

7.  A copy of the applicant's separation physical examination is on file in
his service personnel record.  The SF 88, Report of Medical Examination,
which was completed in conjunction with his separation physical
examination, is absent any comment about any wound he may have sustained
while in Vietnam.

8.  On 13 August 2007, a request for a morning report search was made for
any information showing the applicant was wounded and was sent to the
hospital as a result of being wounded in action (WIA) by a hostile enemy.

9.  On 16 August 2007, this inquiry was responded to.  A search of morning
reports for the applicant's Vietnam unit, Headquarters and Headquarters
Company, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, for the period 19 through
26 September 1967, met with negative results.

10.  Although the record confirms the applicant was awarded the PH for
being wounded in action in the RVN on 7 January 1968, his record is void
of any orders or other documentary evidence to show he was ever
recommended for or awarded the PH for being wounded in action in the RVN
in September 1967.  There is an absence of an entry in Item 21, of his DA
Form 66, Officer Qualification Record, which he last audited on 14 March
1969, almost a year after he departed the RVN, to show a second PH [or in
effect, the Purple Heart, with oak leaf cluster].

11.  The eyewitness statement provided the applicant by his alleged Vietnam
wingman states his [the applicant's] helicopter was hit by enemy gunfire
which caused him to crash in a rice paddy.  After the crash, the applicant
and his gunner ran from the craft with bullets hitting all around them.
After the enemy gunner was killed, the applicant was medically evacuated to
An Khe and treated for the wounds to his leg and was sent back a few days
later.

12.  USARV Regulation 672-1, Appendix II, states, in pertinent part that
hospital commanders are authorized to award the Purple Heart to USARV (US
Army Vietnam) personnel.  Commanders in the grade of major general or
higher and commanders of corps, field forces and divisions in grade of
brigadier general may award the Purple Heart, and other awards to US Army
personnel assigned or attached to their command.

13.  AR 15-185, paragraph 2-2.c., states in pertinent part, the Army Board
for the Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) will decide cases on the
evidence of record.  It is not an investigative agency.

14.  AR 15-185, paragraph 2-9, states in pertinent part, the ABCMR begins
its consideration of each case with the presumption of administrative
regularity.  The applicant has the burden of proving an error or injustice
by a preponderance of the evidence.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  To be awarded the Purple Heart, substantiating evidence must be
presented to show that the Soldier was wounded as the result of hostile
action, the wound must have required treatment, and the medical treatment
must have been made a matter of official record.

2.  There is evidence the applicant sustained lacerations to the face and
leg in September 1970.  There is evidence the applicant received medical
treatment and the treatment was made a matter of official record; however,
there is no evidence to show that these lacerations were the result of
hostile action.

3.  The applicant's name does not appear on the Vietnam Casualty Listing
or in the US National Archives and Records Administration Casualty
Information System Database.  A search of morning reports for his unit
was conducted.  This search failed to develop any information related to
the hospitalization that was shown (for the period from 19 through 25
September 1967) on the SF 600, Chronological Record of Medical Care,
which was considered at the time the applicant's request for award of the
Purple Heart was considered.

4.  The witness statement, although it provides some information that
corresponds closely to that submitted by the applicant in his original
application to the Board, and in his request for reconsideration, is not
notarized and documents to corroborate his assignment to the unit were not
submitted to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that he was
there and witnessed what he has stated.

5.  The applicant has the burden of proving an error or an injustice by a
preponderance of the evidence and based on all the evidence in this case,
he has not done so and he is therefore not entitled to award of the
Purple Heart and to have it added to his DD Form 214.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

__BI____  _GP_____  __TMR__  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 to amend the decision of
the ABCMR set forth in Docket Number AR20060010567 dated 20 March 2007.




                                  _____Bernard P. Ingold______
                                            CHAIRPERSON

                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20070006113                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |                                        |
|DATE BOARDED            |20070830                                |
|TYPE OF DISCHARGE       |                                        |
|DATE OF DISCHARGE       |                                        |
|DISCHARGE AUTHORITY     |                                        |
|DISCHARGE REASON        |                                        |
|BOARD DECISION          |DENY                                    |
|REVIEW AUTHORITY        |                                        |
|ISSUES         1.       |107.0000                                |
|2.                      |107.0015                                |
|3.                      |                                        |
|4.                      |                                        |
|5.                      |                                        |
|6.                      |                                        |


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