IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 3 February 2009
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20080016626
THE BOARD CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING EVIDENCE:
1. Application for correction of military records (with supporting documents provided, if any).
2. Military Personnel Records and advisory opinions (if any).
THE APPLICANT'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE:
1. The applicant requests that he be awarded the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states he was wounded while serving with Company C, 3rd Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment in the fall of 1951.
3. The applicant provides 2 lengthy personal statements, a National Achieves (NA) Form 13055 (Request for Information Needed to Reconstruct Medical Data), and a DD Form 214 (Report of Separation from the Armed Forces of the United States).
CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:
1. 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 Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to excuse an applicants failure to timely file within the 3-year statute of limitations if the ABCMR determines it would be in the interest of justice to do so. While it appears the applicant did not file within the time frame provided in the statute of limitations, the ABCMR has elected to conduct a substantive review of this case and, only to the extent relief, if any, is granted, has determined it is in the interest of justice to excuse the applicants failure to timely file. In all other respects, there are insufficient bases to waive the statute of limitations for timely filing.
2. The applicants military records are not available for review. A fire destroyed approximately 18 million service members records at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973. It is believed that the applicants records were lost or destroyed in that fire. Information herein was obtained from and consists solely of information provided by the applicant.
3. The applicant provides two lengthy statements wherein he outlines his period of service and how and where he was wounded.
4. The only official document available is a copy of the applicant's DD Form 214, which provides the following pertinent information:
a. induction and entrance onto active duty on 5 April 1951;
b. honorable separation from active duty on 5 January 1953;
c. award of the United Nations Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal with two bronze campaign stars, and the Combat Infantryman Badge; and
d. block 29 (Wounds) is blank.
5. A review of the Korean War Casualty file failed to locate a reference to the applicant.
6. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) 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, the wound must have required treatment by medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
7. Army Regulation 15185 (Army Board for Correction of Military Records), paragraph 29 (Burden of proof) states that 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. The applicant states he was wounded while serving with Company C, 3rd Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment in the fall of 1951.
2. Unfortunately, with the presumed loss of the applicant's official military records in the 1973 fire, the burden of proving an error or injustice falls on the applicant. The Board is not an investigative body.
3. The applicant's personal statements are not sufficient to document that he received a wound that was the result of hostile action, required treatment by medical personnel, or that the medical treatment was made a matter of official record.
4. In order to justify correction of a military record the applicant must show to the satisfaction of the Board, or it must otherwise satisfactorily appear, that the record is in error or unjust. The applicant has failed to submit evidence that would satisfy this requirement.
BOARD VOTE:
________ ________ ________ GRANT FULL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
___X____ ____X___ ___X____ 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.
_______ _ X_______ ___
CHAIRPERSON
I certify that herein is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in this case.
ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20080016626
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20080016626
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