IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 19 FEBRUARY 2009
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20080018850
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 award of the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states he should have received a Purple Heart for an injury to his right knee which he sustained in combat while in Vietnam.
3. The applicant provides no evidence in support of his request.
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. Records available to the Board indicate the applicant was inducted and entered active duty on 18 November 1964. Following completion of training he was initially assigned to an infantry unit in Hawaii and reassigned to Vietnam in December 1965 as part of a unit reassignment.
3. He departed Vietnam in October 1966, returned to the United States, and was released from active duty with an honorable characterization of service on 23 November 1966.
4. His DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) does not reflect entitlement to the Purple Heart and item 27 (Wounds Received as a Result of Action with Enemy Forces) reflects "NONE."
5. Army Regulation 600-200 (Enlisted Personnel Management System), chapter 9 of the version in effect at the time, stated, in pertinent part, that a brief description of wounds or injuries (including injury from gas) requiring medical treatment received through hostile or enemy action, including those requiring hospitalization would be entered in item 40 (Wounds) of the DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record). This regulation further stated that the date the wound or injury occurred would also be placed in item 40. Item 40 on the applicants DA Form 20 is blank.
6. The applicant's name is not shown on the Vietnam casualty roster.
7. The applicant's medical records are not available for review with this case.
8. There are no general orders in the applicant's records that show he was awarded the Purple Heart.
9. A review of the Awards and Decorations Computer-Assisted Retrieval System (ADCARS), an index of general orders issued during the Vietnam era between 1965 and 1973 maintained by the Military Awards Branch of the United States Army Human Resources Command, failed to reveal any orders for award of the Purple Heart.
10. 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.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
There are no general orders that show the applicant was awarded the Purple Heart and there is no evidence in his service personnel records that shows that he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action or treated for such wounds. In the absence of documentation that shows he was wounded or injured as a result of hostile action and treated for those wounds, there is insufficient evidence upon which to base award of the Purple Heart in this case.
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.
____________XXX_____________
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) AR20080018850
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